The Final Straw
by Alex Traxel
Summary: For nearly three hundred years, Yuan has gone along with Mithos's plans. But now, during this Journey of Regeneration, he starts to see the flaws and begins planning the beginning of the Renegades, unbeknownst to his younger friend.
1. The Mission

**Originally, this story was just going to be about one of Tethe'alla's Chosens, something that I haven't seen explored too much. But then I decided to make it more Yuan-centric, and do something regarding his decision to form the Renegades in the first place. This story won't really include the Renegades, just the events that lead up to their formation. As well as a grand old Tethe'allan Journey of World Regeneration.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything that Namco has created - just my own original characters. And I also borrowed the general idea for this first chapter from Nightfoot's story _First Steps_, so I feel I should give her some credit too.**

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**Chapter One**

The door whirred, the gears almost snatching away the screwdriver, and Yuan quickly jerked his hand away with a curse. He glared at the stationary piece of metal and dealt it a solid blow with his boot. While kicking the door actually did nothing to make it stop attempting to move, it made the Seraph feel better. Yuan looked at it warily for a moment before going back to fiddling with the mechanics. Automatic doors took a lot more effort than he'd been expecting when he came up with the idea. Computer systems were easy, since they could be as big as necessary in order to hold all the components. Doors, however, were a lot more compact and had smaller spaces in which to work. They also seemed to enjoy stealing tools out of Yuan's hands, something the computers had never done.

After a moment, the door whirred again and, despite the lock Yuan had engaged, slid open a couple of inches. Yuan cursed again and tugged on the screwdriver, which was now lodged between the door and the frame. It refused to budge, even with his strength, and the angel gave up, letting it stay where it was for the time being. He gave the door a dark look before pulling in his wings and dropping the couple of feet back to the ground. With a huff, he flopping in his rolling chair, pushing himself over to one of the monitors that were set up along the walls. Lines and lines of text filled the screen, white on the blue background, and his eyes flicked over the letters with a frown.

Just as Yuan was putting in a command to direct a burst of mana into the door's mechanism so it would close again and release his screwdriver, another of his monitors started beeping quickly, loudly, and annoyingly. He growled to himself and abandoned the issue of the automatic door, rolling over to face the newest crisis. As he had expected, it was a warning system from one of the Desian ranches, warning him that someone was trying to access the system without permission. It was a more common problem than most people would have believed.

With one button, Yuan silenced the alarm, though the screen was still flashing an urgent red, repeatedly warning him that someone had used the wrong password more than three times. He hit a few keys and a side box popped up, holding a log of the Desian computer's recent activity. The last four passwords were recorded, each one written the exact same way. Clearly, whoever was using the computer wasn't all that bright, if they thought putting in the same wrong password again would do something different the second or third time around.

A moment later, another screen popped up, this one holding video from the same computer. Yuan was rather proud of his idea of adding a camera to every monitor, so that they could see who was using it and when. He rewound the video a few seconds and sighed. Not surprisingly, it was simply one of the Desians - a side program he created ran the mana signature to ensure it wasn't an imposter, though he paid the screen little mind, as it still had quite a few bugs - and most likely a new recruit. Yuan took a moment to rub the bridge of his nose and grumble about the Desians' stupidity before he turned to the keyboard, closing down the first two small windows and pulling up a third.

With a few quick commands, Yuan made the main screen stop flashing and return to its normal, neutral blue. That done, he ordered the password to reset in an hour and for the new password to be messaged to the ranch's Grand Cardinal as soon as it finished. That crisis averted, Yuan leaned back in his chair with a sigh, closing his eyes. He didn't see how the system was so difficult for everyone else to grasp. Sure, he had designed it and was supposed to think it was simple, but it had been in operation for a little over a hundred years now. Surely someone could have figured it out. He was getting tired of playing angelic tech support, solving the Grand Cardinals' problems from on high. He had enough of his own technical problems to deal with.

As if to remind him of his own mechanical issues, the door made a strange, strangled sound. It was accompanied with the grating and crunching of the screwdriver being bent out of shape by the gears. Yuan snapped out of his mental grumblings to slide over to the first monitor and finish the string of virtual commands he'd left abandoned.

"Yuan?" The blue-haired half-elf just barely kept from jumping, turning quickly toward the speaker. Looking through the gap created by the door, Kratos gave his friend a confused glance, which mostly consisted of an upturned eyebrow. "Trouble with your toys again?" Yuan frowned, turning back to the screen and glancing over the text once more.

"Of course not. It's supposed to do that," he said right as the door further tore apart the tool it held hostage. He didn't have to look back around to see his friend's skeptical look or eye roll.

"Well, troubles or not, Mithos is waiting for you," Kratos informed him. "He seems to be rather impatient today, too." If Yuan hadn't spent almost the last two hundred years with the auburn-haired angel, he would never have caught the well-hidden hint of annoyance in Kratos's tone. Clearly, he still hadn't quite adjusted to listening to the child who, at one point, had been unable to even really hold his own in a fight without Yuan and Kratos there to back him up.

Yuan sighed, tugging absently at his ponytail. "Fine. Just give me a minute. And move away from the door," he advised. He heard Kratos shuffle away and quickly finished his line of text. Immediately, the door slammed shut with a bang and the screwdriver fell to the ground, the sound it made lost amidst the door's protests. Another few lines of writing and the lock disengaged, the door opening with a rather sickly-sounding whirr of gears.

The door finally cooperating, Yuan got up to join Kratos, kicking the bent and twisted screwdriver off to the corner of the room. The door refused to close like it should have when Yuan stepped out of the room and he smacked the doorframe with the palm of his hand. The sheet of metal jolted and jerkily slid closed again, sealing off the room.

"I hope you didn't lock yourself out again," Kratos said, a touch of amusement in his words, and Yuan blinked at the door. He hadn't even considered the possibility and now wished he'd just let the door sit open. It wasn't like anything was going to be stolen or broken - he, Kratos, and Mithos were the only ones with enough thought processes to do anything of the sort.

"I'll be able to get back in," Yuan said confidently. Kratos snorted but didn't comment, instead starting down the hall with Yuan keeping pace beside him. "Did Mithos say what exactly he's so impatient about?"

Kratos shrugged and said, "Not really. He just said it was important and to fetch you as quickly as possible. Says he has a job for you." Yuan frowned, considering just what kind of job the younger half-elf had in mind. He wasn't often called upon to do work, at least now that the World Regeneration journey was all laid out. Recently, he'd just been asked to "mess with his technical things" for one reason or another, or to lead the Tethe'allan Chosen on the journey. Yuan rather hoped it was the former.

The room the two Seraphim found themselves in a few minutes later was really quite small. There were a couple of windows that looked out to the swirling nothingness that surrounded Derris-Kharlan and a square table took up most of the floor space. A couple bookshelves sat against the walls, looking as untouched as always. Otherwise, the room was fairly empty, save for Mithos.

The blond Seraph was currently in his older form, the one he preferred when he was being leaderly and demanding. He sat in a chair much too large for any living being, one that looked more like an overgrown throne than anything else. It seemed to be trying to swallow Mithos whole, an image that Yuan entertained for one amusing second. It would definitely pop Mithos's high-and-mighty bubble if a chair ate him.

Mithos smiled when his two older friends entered and took seats on either side of the table. At least Yuan didn't feel like if he sat back in his chair he would never be found again. "Glad you could make it," the head angel said, and Yuan couldn't quite tell if he was being sarcastic or not. "I've decided it's time for another attempt at World Regeneration." Yuan gaped, glancing over at Kratos, whose eyebrows had come together as he tried to make out whether or not Mithos was being serious.

"But it really hasn't been that long since the last Chosen went and got herself killed." Yuan got a slightly accusing look from Mithos but ignored it, plowing on. "Do we really need to start another journey so soon?"

"If you hadn't let the last Chosen get killed by some random group of bandits, this wouldn't even be an issue," Mithos pointed out and Yuan frowned, crossing his arms over his chest. It was hardly his fault. He'd turned his back for one minute, she'd run off, and then she'd been found dead! He felt that he could hardly be blamed for that. "And this boy's mana signature is even closer to Martel's than the last two. I'm not going to drop it on the assumption that this could fail or that someone better may come along."

Both Yuan and Kratos barely heard the last sentence and a half of what Mithos was talking about. They'd both gotten caught up in the 'this boy' part of Mithos's explanation. "Wait, you're wanting to bring Martel back as a _boy_?" Yuan blurted, a shudder running down his spine. Sure, Mithos's ideas usually weren't the most sane, but this one was just ridiculous. Martel couldn't be a boy! Not only would she probably not be too enthused, Yuan was also still technically engaged to her, and that was more than just simply creepy.

"It's not ideal, and it would be rather strange, but he's the only one with a close enough mana signature to pull it off," Mithos said, shaking his head. He frowned slightly, clasping his hands in front of him. "I think it shouldn't really matter, as long as Martel comes back somehow, right?" For a moment, he looked like the lost little kid that Kratos had found all those years ago, waiting for some reassurance that it would all work out. He quickly snapped out of it, though, and the brief moment disappeared as quickly as it had come. "Whether or not the Chosen is a boy, we should still go through with it. If it works, we'll have to adjust, but I'm sure Martel wouldn't mind too much and then we'd just have to worry about getting someone to reverse the mana flow every century or so."

There was silence for a moment before Kratos spoke up, his mouth turned down in a small frown. "Perhaps we should wait for a girl to be born with the same mana signature. Matches seem to be becoming easier to find in Tethe'alla than in Sylvarant, considering that this would be the third journey for Tethe'alla in the past seventy-five years. It may be prudent to wait it out, on the chance that Martel may not be as accepting as you may believe."

Mithos stood up, resting his hands on the table, and glared at his two friends. "No. We're not waiting. It may be a while before there's another girl, and so we need to take what we can get. I know that no matter what, we won't get anyone who looks just like like Martel, but she'll still be her no matter the body. That shouldn't matter," he said firmly, and Yuan set his jaw, forcing back an argument that would only trigger a shouting match. "Yuan, I expect you to leave as soon as possible to get him. His name is Aiden Norfel, and you'll find him in Flanoir. Just don't screw it up again."

The sentence was a clear dismissal, and as much as Yuan wanted to sit there and yell at Mithos to stop being such a spoiled brat and to just be patient, he knew it would be a poor idea. There was no chance of swaying the boy from his path, and all it would accomplish would be to make Kratos's time in Welgaia difficult while Yuan was gone. So instead the blue-haired half-elf got up and stormed angrily from the room, his cloak billowing behind him, and without a single word to either of the other two Seraphim. Kratos followed close behind, walking silently beside his friend as Yuan seethed.

"I wish I could smack some sense into him still. He's such a demanding _brat_," Yuan growled, shoving his hands into his pockets a little more forcefully than was necessary. "I'd like to see Martel back as much as him, boy would I like that, but he's too damn impatient. Even if we wait a little while, Tethe'alla isn't going anywhere for another century at least, and someone else is bound to turn up. And there's not even a chance this will work! Having Spiritua didn't help in the slightest, what makes him think this boy is going to be any different?"

"Mithos simply wishes to see his sister again. You know that he preferred her company over ours a majority of the time," Kratos tried to reason. "Despite his age, he's still a child. I'm not condoning his behavior, but it is at least understandable."

Yuan suddenly stopped and rounded on his friend, his face set into a scowl. "I miss Martel, too. Mithos wasn't the only one who was close to her, Kratos. I loved her, I was going to _marry _her, before she was killed. You don't think I wouldn't give anything to have her back? But this is ridiculous. He's just grasping at straws by now. This would work better if he just slowed down and thought about what he was doing. Rushing into things is only going to delay us and I, for one, don't want to spent the next thousand or so years looking for someone who may or may not be enough like Martel for this to work."

"He never was very patient," Kratos pointed out. Yuan huffed and continued down the hall, though he looked less like he was going to rip someone's throat out. Ranting in the middle of the hallway had calmed his temper to some degree.

The two walked for a minute in silence, Kratos letting his friend seethe, and Yuan mentally grumbling about this entire adventure he was supposed to set out on. When they got to Yuan's room, the door refused to budge despite its programming, and he ended up just simply using Lightning on it. There was a crack, a flash of bright light, and then the door slid soundlessly open, apparently fixed. It did nothing to better his mood. "I'll see you in a few days, Kratos," he grumbled over his shoulder, going to pack up a few provisions. There was no response, but he heard Kratos leave.

Yuan sighed, slumping against the wall and running his fingers through his ponytail. At the very least, he hoped this journey would go smoothly and that it would be over with soon. He also hoped it would actually work, but couldn't bring himself to believe that it would. But as long as he finished this time, Mithos would be happy and then the next Chosen would be Kratos's problem. "That kid better not cause troubles," he muttered to himself before pushing off from the wall and packing his things, with the occasional grumble punctuating his work.


	2. Tethe'alla's Chosen

**Basically, I just want to say thank you to Kiomori for the review and everyone else for the hits to this story. Even knowing that people are reading this means quite a lot to me. So thanks.**

**And also, this chapter is fairly long, compared to the last. You have been warned.**

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**Chapter Two**

As he had been told, Yuan left as soon as he was ready. Of course, it took a while longer than he knew Mithos would have preferred, but he felt waiting a couple hours wouldn't hurt anyone. He first had to call Kratos back (which was a little embarrassing considering his abrupt goodbye) in order to try and explain some of the computer programs that would be most likely to be needed. Yuan at least left out the basics, since Kratos had taken control of the technology during the past two regeneration journeys Yuan had gone on, and the half-elf was sure his friend could turn things off and on without any assistance. However, it was pretty clear that everything else was lost on Kratos, and so Yuan ended up writing down instructions and giving those to his friend instead.

Once possible technological issues were sorted out, Yuan ended up spending an annoying amount of time looking for his wingpack. He hadn't needed it for the last eighteen years, and so it had quickly been misplaced amongst all of the cords, screens, and tools that had invaded his room. Eventually, he found it tangled up in some multi-colored wires behind one of the computers and, since it was just out of reach, found a good use for the warped screwdriver. The cube seemed like it would fall apart any day now, not too surprising since Yuan had had it since the Kharlan War, but it still worked just fine, even if it was a little touchy about giving things up from time to time.

The next half hour or so was spent with Yuan filling up the wingpack with anything he thought might come in handy. A lot of it was stuff that he personally might never need a use for but that the Chosen might need and forget. His large double-bladed sword, the Swallow, was also added to the wingpack. He found it was a lot easier to carry the bulky weapon in the small, compact cube than strapped to his back. At least with it in the wingpack he wouldn't occasionally get stuck on short doorways.

It wasn't until everything was packed and he was sure the Grand Cardinals wouldn't explode his computer system due to their ignorance that Yuan finally took the teleporter down to the Tower of Salvation. While getting out of Welgaia for a time was a nice relief, being in the tower wasn't too much better and the Seraph was quick to take his leave. He always felt like the tower was too _empty_. At least in Welgaia there was always Mithos and Kratos to talk to, or the continous urgent beeping of his computers or, if he was feeling especially bored, he could prod one of the few soulless angels into a conversation. But there wasn't a living thing in the tower and it was just downright creepy.

It was nighttime when Yuan stepped outside. There was no moon and some of the stars were covered by clouds, but he barely even noticed. His angelic senses more than made up for the lack of light, showing him the surrounding landscape with remarkable clarity. The tower wasn't visible anymore and he could see straight through to the mountains beyond, at least until he brought the Chosen to the temple in Flanoir.

Though he couldn't be sure due to the lack of a moon, Yuan assumed that, provided the snowy island was having kind weather, he would most likely reach Flanoir by that afternoon. Making sure the wingpack was clipped securely to his belt, the angel pulled out his pinkish-purple wings (something Mithos had made fun of until Yuan pointed out that the boy's wings were literally made of rainbows) and took off into the night.

As he predicted, he ended up landing outside of Flanoir somewhere around three o'clock. It probably would have been sooner if he hadn't almost been swept off course by some freak wind coming off the island. He'd spent some time wrestling with the wind and trying to get some headway until it had abruptly died down, and he'd almost run headlong into one of the rock spires surrounding the island. He had never really enjoyed Flanoir that much, but that experience had given him a good reason for it. At the very least, he didn't have to feel too much of the cold that was making his breath billow out in clouds.

Wrapping his cloak around himself, more in response to the idea of the wind and snow being cold than the actual temperature, Yuan trudged the remaining half a mile to the town, grumbling about the fact that Mithos had sent him here of all places. Why couldn't it have been Meltokio, or Altamira? They were both nice, warm, safe flying zones whose only dangers were the complaints of the annoyingly rich and a sunburn.

Flanoir looked quite a bit different than the last time Yuan had been there, which had been before the worlds had split. Unfortunately, neither of Tethe'alla's previous Chosens had had a chance to visit the seal on the island. But once, Flanoir had had enough colorful light displays to rival Altamira's amusement park for brightness. Now that mana was declining, they'd had to take a majority of them down and had replaced them with gaslights. The town seemed a lot darker and a little more depressing in the dim light, towered over by the imposing stone church that definitely had not been there before the separation. Most of the buildings were stone with a few wooden structures that seemed to be in need of repair.

At the very least, the people still looked the same. There was a mix between the residents, who were dressed rather lightly and moved with more of a purpose, and tourists, who looked like they were going to explode from all the layers and gawked at the buildings and the snow and basically anything their eyes fell on. Yuan got more than his fair share of wary, nervous, or suspicious glances as he entered, not that he was expecting anything else. Even if Flanoir had absolutely no problems with Desians (the followers of Cruxis figured that having a base on the snowy island was more of a hindrance than an asset), they still were rather untrusting of half-elves.

It took Yuan all of thirty seconds to determine that finding the Chosen without any assistance was impossible. After all, he had no idea what the boy looked like or where exactly he could find him, since apparently Mithos thought Flanoir small enough that he didn't need that information. Since asking around in the more tourist-centered part of town would get him nowhere, Yuan turned down a side street to the more residential areas. Immediately, people's suspicion sky-rocketed and he got more than a couple dark glares. He briefly toyed with the idea of taking his hair down completely, in order to hide the points of his ears, but dismissed it after a moment. He would only get a worse reception if it was discovered that he was lying about his race. Besides, he didn't like his hair getting in his face.

The first few attempts to find Aiden were about as far from successful as one could get. Yuan was met with snide and rather rude remarks concerning his race, as well as a few suggestions as to what he could do with his meddling, time-wasting questions. One man threatened to contact the city police force if Yuan did not remove himself from the man's lawn immediately and leave Flanoir's hard-working citizens alone. Yuan wasted no time leaving the man alone, as there wasn't a chance his questions would get answered there, but he had no intention of leaving anyone alone until he found the Chosen.

Finally, just as Yuan was about to give up and start banging on doors until Aiden appeared, he found a woman shoveling the snow from her sidewalk. She wasn't too remarkable, except for the fact that she didn't look at him with barely concealed hatred or disgust. She just seemed to be a little wary, but not much more so than anyone would be at finding a stranger standing in their yard.

"Excuse me, ma'am," Yuan said, forcing his voice into the same polite and neutral tones he'd used with everyone else, even though he wanted to just demand answers to his questions. Unfortunately, people didn't take demands very well. "Would you happen to know where I might find a boy named Aiden Norfel? I'd like to speak with him." The woman looked a little more suspicious but didn't seem ready to bite his head off. Maybe the careful phrasing he'd picked up from Kratos was actually helping.

"What do you need him for?" she asked, digging the head of the shovel into a pile of snow and leaning on the shaft. She looked Yuan over with narrowed eyes, and he resisted the urge to try and hide his ears or straighten his cape. Comments were one thing - being scrutinized was a whole different kind of uncomfortable.

"I need to speak with him concerning matters of the Church of Martel," Yuan said. There was one more moment of being scrutinized before her expression suddenly cleared, becoming much more cheerful and welcoming. Cleary, something about him had said that he was with the church and was to be trusted. Besides the fact that he was an angel, of course.

The woman smiled and pointed down the street, saying, "He's most likely at the schoolhouse, waiting for his brother and sister. But I should warn you that you won't get very far with Aiden. He's a nice enough boy, but he's made it very clear that he's not fond of Martelism. I'd watch yourself if I were you." Yuan frowned but thanked her, leaving her to her shoveling as he sought out the schoolhouse.

Most of what the woman said sounded rather troubling. When someone was described as "nice enough", there was usually something else to counter the comment. Mithos was nice enough, when he was in a good mood. Kratos was nice enough, when he wasn't being so paranoid and quiet. To say that Aiden was nice enough most likely meant that he could also be an annoyance. And then there was the fact that he was against Martelism. For once, Yuan wished Mithos would pick a Chosen who actually agreed with and understood their fake religion. Then they'd actually know about the Journey of World Regeneration and wouldn't need to have it all explained, and it wouldn't be necessary to prod them in the right direction with every step. Yuan added that to his list of reasons why Mithos should have been more patient with this journey.

The schoolhouse wasn't too difficult to find, as it was one of the larger buildings in the residential part of Flanoir. It was all one large room with a bell tower topping the roof. The yard was covered in the snow art of small children; snowmen, snow angels, snow forts with piles of snowballs, snow tunnels that were probably meant to be igloos, and snow sculptures. Parents waited around the yard for their children to be released from school, chatting amiably amongst themselves. The only person who really stood out was the one solitary teenager who stood beside the door.

The teenage boy was fairly tall for his apparent age, which was about fourteen to fifteen years old. He was dressed in the same rather thin winter-wear that all of Flanoir's actual residents preferred, and the clothing was patterned in a mixture of black and grey. Tufts of white hair stuck out from beneath his hat and glacier blue eyes were locked onto the schoolhouse door. He was the only one under twenty in the immediate vicinity, and so Yuan took a wild guess and assumed that this was Aiden.

Yuan picked his way through the artwork that littered the lawn, completely ignoring one parent who demanded to know just what business he had here. He could feel more than one set of eyes on him, and it made the hair on the back of his neck prickle, but that was also ignored. It would take more than a rude question and some staring to keep Yuan from speaking to the boy he'd been sent to collect in the first place.

"Aiden Norfel?" the angel questioned as soon as he had safely made his way to stand next to the boy. Aiden glanced briefly over his shoulder before turning his attention back to the door. Yuan took that as confirmation and plowed on, moving around so that he wasn't speaking to the teenager's back. "My name is Yuan Ka-Fai. I need to speak to you about the World Regeneration."

"I don't care," Aiden said almost before Yuan had even finished his sentence. The calm, bored way that it was said threw the angel off for a moment. "Go lecture someone else about your religion. I don't want to hear it."

Yuan frowned and crossed his arms over his chest. "I'm not here to try and convert you to Martelism. There are probably enough priests to do that. I'm here to tell you that you're the one that's supposed to go on this journey." This got a notable reaction from the teenager, but it definitely wasn't what Yuan was expecting. The past two Chosens had responded with confusion, shock, or disbelief. Aiden simply looked at Yuan as if the angel had sprouted another head.

"Oh, yeah?" he scoffed. "And just why is that?"

"...Because you're the Chosen of Mana," Yuan said slowly, as if he was back to explaining to a young Mithos why it was a bad idea to practice Fireball on his friends. Aiden snorted, shaking his head as a smirk came to his face and he looked back to the schoolhouse.

"Yeah, that's great. Nice joke. Might want to work on the punch line, though," he said dismissively, waving his hand in a 'shoo' motion. Again, Yuan was baffled by the boy's attitude, but his bewilderment quickly turned to annoyance. He was just about to try explaining it again when the door to the schoolhouse shot open and an army of small children poured outside. The children's yelling and shrill laughter hurt Yuan's sensitive hearing and he flinched away from the sudden noise.

Two children broke off from the mob and jumped at Aiden. One of them was a young girl, about twelve years old, with blond hair so light it almost looked white. She was dressed in the usual thin winter clothing, all of which were some shade of red or pink. She hugged her older brother for a moment before looking curiously up at Yuan, her eyes darting nervously between the ground and the angel. The other child was a little half-elven boy, no older than eight. His hair was almost as blue as Yuan's and it almost blended in to his clothing, which was all about the same shade. He was speaking rather quickly and excitedly to Aiden, who listened with a kindness and patience that made him seem like a different boy than the one Yuan had been speaking to.

When the little boy paused for breath, the girl reached over and tugged at her older brother's jacket, pointing shyly at Yuan. "Aiden, who's that?" she whispered, but Yuan's hearing picked the words up easily enough.

Aiden glanced over his shoulder, annoyance flitting across his features as he realized he actually hadn't gotten rid of the man behind him. His expression just about matched how Yuan was feeling just then. "Don't worry about him, Audrey. He's just someone from the church. Says his name is Yuan Coffee," the boy said dismissively.

"Hilarious. I've never heard that one before," Yuan muttered to himself. "It's Ka-Fai," he corrected more audibly and Aiden snorted, clearly not caring overly much if he butchered the angel's name.

Audrey gently hit her brother's shoulder, a small frown coming over her face. "Be nice, Aiden," she admonished quietly. The teenager paused at the rebuke before his shoulders slumped and he nodded. The little boy looked curiously between his siblings and Yuan, one hand clasped around one of Aiden's. "I'm sorry, sir," Audrey added to Yuan, her words barely audible even to him.

"It's...quite all right," Yuan said slowly, a little surprised by the sudden apology. "I just need to speak to your brother here for a moment." He gestured to Aiden, who looked far from happy about it being brought up again. Audrey nodded quickly, her eyes glued to the snowy ground.

Frowning to himself, Aiden tugged at his little brother's hand, starting back across the yard. "We can talk at my house. But I still don't care," he grumbled. Yuan sighed but followed behind the teen and his younger siblings anyway. At the very least, Audrey had gotten him to consider listening, which was better than a few minutes ago. It would be better if Aiden wasn't so reluctant and dismissive, but Yuan sincerely hoped that would change quickly, otherwise there would end up being problems.

The walk was mostly filled with the loud, constant chattering from the small half-elven boy, whose name was Eli. The boy had started speaking as soon as his siblings had settled the issue of Aiden's rudeness. He spoke about anything from what he learned in school to the snow angel he made to voicing his excitement that Yuan was also a half-elf. It was nearly impossible for either of his siblings to get a word in edge-wise, not that Audrey seemed to be too interested in joining in. She kept her gaze downward and shuffled after her brothers, shooting quick, shy glances at Yuan over her shoulder.

The Norfel house was a small, one-story building that was squeezed between two other houses, as if there had been too big of a gap between the other two buildings and they needed something to fill the space. There was one small, sad-looking snowman with only one eye in front of the house, which was the building's only real decoration. The door caught when Aiden tried to open it and the teenager ended up shouldering his way into the house, his siblings hurrying past him. Yuan looked the building over skeptically for a moment, debating whether or not he should trust it not to fall on his head, before following the kids inside. If being inside a very dilapitated house was what it took to speak to Aiden, then he didn't have much of a choice.

Eli and Audrey had disappeared into the back rooms of the house, and Yuan could hear them playing some kind of game. Aiden was busying himself with lighting a few lanterns that hung from the ceiling and he seemed to drag on the chore as long as possible until there weren't anymore to light. He looked around for more before sighing, completely oblivious to Yuan's rapidly thinning patience, and flopped into a chair. "You're not going to attempt that joke of yours again, are you?" Aiden asked.

"It's not a joke," Yuan said, frowning at the boy in annoyance. "You are the Chosen of Mana, the one who is supposed to undergo the Journey of World Regeneration and save Tethe'alla."

Aiden did not look very convinced. "And how would you know that? I kind of doubt that it's listed anywhere that I'm this 'Chosen of Mana'," he scoffed, making air quotes around the last three words. "If so, I think I would have known of it sooner."

"No, your name isn't listed," Yuan sighed, shaking his head. "I'm an angel of Cruxis; it's kind of my job to know."

Again, the reaction Yuan recieved was far from what he was expecting. There was a certain reaction one came to expect when revealing their angelic background. In Yuan's experience, this was mostly shock, awe, and reverence, sprinkled with a little disbelief. Aiden skipped right over the first three emotions and simply looked disbelieving and skeptical of the claim. Yuan sighed and gathered his mana, allowing his wings to appear from his back. For a split second, Aiden did looked surprised, before he cracked up laughing.

"Your wings are _pink_," he laughed and Yuan quickly put them away with a scowl. "How manly."

"They're not _pink_. They're also purple," Yuan huffed, which only made the teenager laugh harder. "And that's just the color of my mana! I use lightning magic, that's the color of lighting magic!" Aiden's laughter refused to die down, which only served to irritate Yuan further. "It's really not that funny. I hardly chose the color of my wings!"

Yuan paused before closing his eyes and rubbing his forehead. He was getting defensive about his wing color to a _fifteen year old human boy._ One that he had only just met, no less. It really shouldn't have bothered him as much as it did. It might have been because he'd been teased so mercilessly about his wings when he and his friends had all become angels that now it was simply reflex to get defensive. Though all that mattered now was that his protests were fueling Aiden's laughter.

"Would you please _stop laughing_?" Yuan snapped after a moment. He removed his hand from his face as Aiden's laughter slowly died down. At some point during the boy's hysterics, Audrey and Eli had appeared and were hovering in the doorway curiously, wondering just what was so funny. After a minute, Aiden was reduced to simply chuckling and hiccuping as he got himself back under control. "Are you quite done now?"

Aiden nodded and snickered, "You have pink wings." The younger two kids immediately became interested, even though Audrey looked like she was also starting to doubt her older brother's sanity.

"I highly doubt yours will be much better," Yuan scoffed, turning away from the inquiring eyes on him.

There was a moment of confused silence, punctuated only by Aiden's hiccups, before the teenager asked suspiciously, "What's that supposed to mean?" Any of his previous mirth seemed to have disappeared entirely at that statement. Yuan wasn't sure if he like the suspicion any better than the hysterical laughter, though.

Yuan let the question hang in the air for a moment as he found somewhere to sit. He ended up pulling a rickety wooden chair around so that it was in front of Aiden's seat and very tentatively sitting down. The wood creaked in protest but otherwise it held firm. Audrey and Eli crowded around their brother, the tiny half-elf boy climbing into Aiden's lap as they all looked at Yuan curiously.

"It means that at some point in the near future, you're going to have wings of your own," Yuan said, using a tone of voice that suggested that Aiden should know this. "Being the Chosen of Mana means that you become more angelic with every seal that you unlock." Aiden frowned unhappily but Audrey's eyes immediately lit up, her head whipping around between Aiden and Yuan. The angel was vaguely surprised that she could even move that quickly.

"Aiden's the Chosen?" she gasped, and even in her excitement her voice was quiet and rather hesitant. Aiden shrugged and she rounded on him, eyes wide. "Why didn't you tell us?"

The teen frowned and made a vague gesture toward Yuan. "I just found out myself. But you don't seriously believe this crazy fairy guy, right?" The insult was strange enough to give Yuan pause, as he couldn't recall _ever_ having been called a 'crazy fairy guy' before. The pause only lasted a half a second, long enough for his brain to process the words, before he started to grow irritated once more.

Audrey looked over her shoulder at the angel before her eyes darted down to the ground, shuffling her feet. "Well...yeah. I mean, he has to be an angel if he has wings and stuff, right? So he'd know. Angels always know. Right, Mr. Ka-Fai?" She didn't even glance at him again, instead addressing some kind of stain between the toes of her shoes.

"I guess you could say that," Yuan said with a nod. The smallest of smiles came to the girl's face and she looked up at her brother, who still seemed to be rather disbelieving but he was softening under his sister's gaze.

"What does Chosen mean?" Eli asked before the silence stretched for too long.

"It means Aiden is the person who is supposed to save Tethe'alla from the Desians," Audrey answered. Aiden seemed to be growing uncomfortable with being literally in the middle of a conversation about himself.

"How's he gonna do that?" Eli asked, looking between the other three in the room. "Is he gonna go fight them all? Aiden's a really good fighter. He could get rid of all the Desians like that."

Yuan couldn't help a smile coming to his face at the little boy's idea, and not only because the mental image of Aiden charging into a ranch with a sword was extremely funny. "No, Aiden isn't going to fight them all, not directly at least," he said, drawing all of the Norfel children's attention. Eli looked really interested and excited, Audrey still wasn't meeting the angel's eyes, and Aiden was trying to hide whatever faint interest he had behind a very well-fortified wall of contempt. "What the Chosen does is go around Tethe'alla and release the four seals. They're scattered across the world and each one has a guardian that Aiden will have to defeat. When it's all over, he becomes an angel and the Desians disappear." Yuan knew he was glorifying it, he knew all too well, but he couldn't in good conscious tell an eight-year-old that his brother was going to die and that the Desians would just return in another century or so.

"That sounds like some fanciful fairy tale," Aiden scoffed, lifting Eli from his lap and setting the little boy on the ground. "And now that story time is over, why don't you two run off and play and I'll see our...guest out." Audrey gave her brother the fiercest look than Yuan had seen from her yet, but she didn't argue, taking Eli's hand and leading him back to the other rooms again.

Yuan frowned and watched them go before rounding on Aiden. "Would you quit being so stubborn about this and accept that I'm telling you the truth?" he snapped, his patience having run out at the teenager's latest comment. "I could understand normal disbelief, it's rather sudden, but you could quit fighting this every step of the way. You're the Chosen of Mana, you're supposed to regenerate the world, now stop snarking and just go with it."

Aiden glowered, sitting back in his chair and crossing his arms. "I will not 'just go with it'. Why should I? We don't have any problems with Desians. There's no reason for me to want them to disappear. And I don't want to go and risk my life and become an angel with shiny fairy wings like you, all for people that I don't know or care about. Give me one good reason why I _should_ just accept this."

For a moment, Yuan was stumped. He hadn't come across this argument yet, and he was pretty sure Kratos hadn't had this problem with Sylvarant's Chosen, either. Anywhere else and anyone would have jumped at the chance to get rid of the Desians but here...Desians were more of a horror story than anything.

While Yuan considered, Aiden watched him expectantly, his defiance slowly changing to triumph the longer an answer took to arrive. Just then, Eli let out a squeal of laughter from the bedrooms and Yuan sat up, pointing back the way the younger two kids had gone. "You should accept your position for them," the half-elf said, and Aiden turned to look down the short hall. "What if, a few years down the line, your siblings decide to leave Flanoir and go visit someplace else. For work or vacation or whatever. But instead of having a good time away from home, they get taken to one of the human ranches, never to be seen again. Then it would be your problem, but by then it would be too late. We'll have passed you up and it may be fifty years before another Chosen comes around, and there's no way they would last that long at a ranch. But if you actually listen to me now, that can be avoided, and if they do decide to leave, it'll be safe."

As the scenario was laid out, Aiden's expression became more pained, and his hands clenched tightly into fists. They sat there for a moment, listening to Eli loudly proclaiming that Audrey was cheating while she pretended to cast some ridiculous spell. Finally, the teenager slumped in his chair, glaring daggers at the floor. "Fine," he spat, and Yuan felt rather accomplished for getting that one single word from the difficult boy. "I'll be the stupid Chosen."

"I'm glad to hear it," Yuan said, standing and brushing some dirt from his cape. "I'd like to leave tomorrow morning, give you time to pack and rest. And before we'd go, I'd like to explain everything to your parents, whenever they get home."

Immediately, Aiden's glare snapped up from the ground and to the angel, taking Yuan aback. "That's kind of difficult, since they disappeared two years ago," he said coldly and Yuan blinked.

"Oh. I'm...sorry," he said, not quite sure what exactly to say to that sudden revelation. Then a thought hit him and he gestured once more to where the younger two kids were playing. "If that's the case, then is there someone who will be watching your siblings while you're away?"

Aiden stood up, crossing his arms over his chest and scowling. "They're coming, too," he said firmly. Before Yuan could protest, and he definitely wanted to, the boy plowed on, "I can't leave them here alone, and no one likes watching them for too long. Most people can't stand Eli because he's a half-elf, and those that can won't put up with him for long for fear that they'll become just as hated for siding with him. There's nowhere for them to go."

"You're suggesting taking two young children on a dangerous journey across Tethe'alla, full of Desians and who knows what kind of creatures? They're going to get hurt, Aiden, there's no way around it. Why don't you just ask the church if they'll help? I'm sure the priests would be more than happy to watch your siblings while you go and regenerate the world," Yuan argued, crossing his arms as well. Sadly, the threatening effect was lessened by the fact that he wasn't all that much taller than Aiden himself, and he wasn't quite as good with striking fear into people's hearts with a single look as Kratos was.

"They're coming," Aiden said, his tone suggesting that he wanted the conversation to end there, but Yuan wasn't going to be deterred by some kid's strong tone. His frown darkened to a glare, and the two of them stood there looking like one of them would snap at any moment and literally try to smack some sense into the other. Yuan understood Aiden's protectiveness for his siblings, the angel had seen it and was still seeing it between Mithos and Martel, but he didn't see how Aiden could even consider dragging his family into this mess that they were going to get themselves in. However, the boy seemed to be unwilling to waver from his decision. And it had also been hard enough getting him to agree in the first place. If saying no possibly pushed him into backing out...

Finally, Yuan threw his hands up in the air and turned on his heel, seething. "Fine! Drag your siblings around to get killed. You just better not expect me to watch their every moves," he snapped over his shoulder. He didn't need to turn around to see Aiden's satisfied smirk; he could practically feel it against his back. "Just be ready to go first thing tomorrow morning." Without waiting for an answer, Yuan stormed out of the house, closing the door rather harshly behind him.

Why couldn't this trip just start out _simple_?


	3. Into the Lobo's Den

**A/N: Look, an update! Yay! And I was planning on having them actually go talk to Kratos and reveal the Tower of Salvation and everything, but then I got to what felt like a good stopping point and decided to do that next chapter. So no more Kratos yet but there is fighting, which is always fun. :)**

* * *

It was early the next morning when Yuan left the inn. He'd spent the night trying to figure out how in the world he was going to make this journey work, and had finally given up when the sky had started to brighten. His main problem was the two young children he'd promised to let tag along. Not only would they get in the way and be in danger, they'd also be stranded at the Tower when all was said and done, their brother a soulless angel and Yuan disappearing back to Derris-Kharlan. Not to mention Aiden himself, who Yuan was not looking forward to having as a traveling companion. It wasn't just that he was simply a pain in the ass, but Yuan was afraid that if Aiden did face an untimely death, it would most likely be at the angel's own hand, considering how their first meeting had gone. And that would cause a whole lot of fuss on Mithos's part.

The town was practically deserted at this hour, with most people still sound asleep in their beds. Heavy cloud cover gave the illusion that it was earlier than it really was, with a few fluffy snowflakes already drifting down. Yuan just hoped the harmless snowfall didn't turn into one of Flanoir's all-too-frequent blizzards. It would make crossing the island to the Temple of Ice extremely difficult and unsafe, even for him.

It only took a couple minutes to return to the Norfel household. Like all the other residential buildings nearby, it was dark and quiet, nothing like the household of a small group that was planning on leaving soon. Admittedly, Yuan hadn't specified what time they were leaving, but the silence still wasn't encouraging. Most people about to embark on a long journey tended to get up earlier than necessary, in order to make sure they'd packed everything they needed. The fact that not even Eli, who had seemed the kind of child to wake up at three a.m. on his birthday due to excitement, seemed to be up or moving did nothing to lift Yuan's mood.

The angel rapped sharply on the door and then stood back, hands clasped behind his back. There was no response and after a minute he knocked again, harder. The force of the knock shook the door slightly in its too-small frame, and somewhere down the road, a dog started yapping. Still nothing happened and Yuan frowned. He highly doubted that anyone inside was actually sleeping through his knocks - they were loud and probably sounded even worse inside. So either they'd already gone, something Yuan highly doubted considering Aiden's attitude toward the whole adventure, or he was being avoided. He'd bet one hundred Gald that it was the second one.

Yuan glanced around quickly to make sure there were no staring citizens that would try and get him arrested before forcibly pushing the door open. It stuck and protested, but he got it open after a moment of violent persuasion. He'd won against a mechanical screwdriver-stealing door; he was not going to be bested by some poorly constructed block of wood. The door hit the wall with a little more force than Yuan had anticipated and the angel winced. At the very least, both door and wall still seemed to be intact.

Eli and Audrey were sitting in the short hallway, staring at him with wide eyes. Audrey held a small red ball in her hands and was poised to throw it. Yuan assumed that this was how the two kids had been entertaining themselves while staying so quiet. Just past them were the two doorways that led to the back bedrooms, one of which was closed. Overall, it looked like his bet had been correct - he was being avoided.

Sighing heavily, Yuan pushed the door closed with his foot, having to give it a firm kick when it refused to slide neatly into the frame. "Aiden can't still be asleep," he said. His words were apparently the trigger needed to break the Norfel children from their frozen states, since as soon as he spoke, Audrey let her arms drop to her lap, though she still held the ball, and Eli leaped to his feet. It was only now that Yuan noticed the young half-elf's ridiculously bright blue pajamas, which made the boy's hair seemed just that much more vibrant.

"No, he's awake," Eli said, pointing to the closed door. "He's just mopey. And he wouldn't let us answer the door." Audrey shook her head, her attention fixed on the ball she was spinning around between her hands. She looked a little guilty.

"Well, that didn't work very well, did it?" Yuan snorted, and Eli shook his head quickly, grinning. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to rouse your brother from bed. I'd appreciate it if you two, at the very least, pack your things and prepare to leave shortly." Eli hurried off without a word, disappearing into the other bedroom with a huge grin still plastered on his face. Audrey pushed herself up and hesitated, shooting a quick glance at Yuan.

"Sorry for not answering, Mr. Ka-Fai," she said quietly before quickly following her little brother. As soon as she entered the room, she gently closed the door behind her. Through the door, Yuan could hear Eli scurrying about and Audrey's patient, "Slow down, Eli. Just get dressed first, then you can find what you need."

Leaving the kids to figure out packing on their own, Yuan knocked on Aiden's bedroom door. As he expected, there was no response; he'd only really bothered because it was polite, though he was quickly finding out that Aiden didn't seem to react much to politeness. Not even bothering to knock a second time, Yuan just pushed his way into the room. It was dark, as there were no windows and the lamps hadn't been lit, and Yuan was glad for his heightened eyesight, since he could still make out what was inside.

The room was sparsely furnished, with a bed, a small dresser, and a table that was overflowing with clothing and random junk. The mess on the table had spread to the floor, leaving very little floor space still visible. Aiden lay curled up on his bed, his back to the door, and he didn't even move when Yuan entered. "Aiden," he said briskly, lingering the doorway where the floor was clear. Still there was no answer and Yuan huffed out a breath, stomping into the room as best he could while also trying to carefully maneuver around the clutter.

"This is ridiculous. Get up, Chosen. We need to be leaving soon," Yuan grumbled, stopping over the boy's bed and crossing his arms over his chest. Finally Aiden moved, flipping over onto his back and propping himself up on his elbows. He didn't appear to be all that thrilled about finding the angel in his room.

"Don't call me that," he griped, his expression annoyed. "I'm not the Chosen." Before Yuan could protest, Aiden rolled over again and said loudly, in order to cut over Yuan's words, "I changed my mind after you left. I don't want to be the Chosen of Mana. So go away."

Yuan scowled, just barely resisting the urge to smack Aiden upside the head until he saw sense. "You can't just change your mind," he said. "Besides, what happened to being the Chosen in order to protect your siblings? Or did you forget about that?" Aiden groaned and finally pushed himself up into a full sitting position, crossing his legs.

"No, I didn't forget," Aiden snapped, matching Yuan's scowl. "I just decided that I wouldn't let them go anywhere with Desians. So there, problem solved. Now I don't have to go on some stupid journey in the name of a false goddess. Now get out of my room."

There was a tense silence as Yuan tried to come up with reasons why electricuting him with magic was a poor idea. It would most likely change Aiden's mind back, not to mention get rid of some of his attitude. But Yuan would never hear the end of it in Derris-Kharlan. And he could possibly incapacitate the Chosen, which wasn't exactly what he wanted. So instead of calling up a Lightning spell, Yuan just took a moment to rub at a headache that was creeping up on him as he tried to form a new argument.

Aiden was still scowling at the angel, silently daring him to dispute the teen's decision. Yuan just wished he could look as dark and menacing as Kratos. "Forbidding your siblings from leaving will only work for so long. What happens when you finally die, and Eli is set to live for another couple centuries? I highly doubt you'll be able to come back and haunt him." Unless he finished the journey and became a soulless angel and managed to find his way back to Flanoir, of course, but that was about as likely as Aiden becoming a ghost. It would also be pointless, since in that scenario, the Desians would have already moved back to Sylvarant.

"By then, I'm sure you'll have roped someone else into all of this," Aiden countered, crossing his arms smugly over his chest. Yuan had to admit that that was true, especially with how frequently Mithos had been picking out Tethe'allan Chosens. That left almost no arguments he could give, except for one that made Yuan feel silly even considering. However, he was out of options, and he had to at least try everything before calling this whole trip a bust.

"You already promised to be the Chosen," Yuan said quickly. The argument was weak and childish and honestly a little whiny, though it at least pulled Aiden up short.

"I... _What?_" the teenager asked, his eyebrows drawing together in confusion. "That's not even a real argument!"

"Sure it is," Yuan said briskly, deciding to roll with it. At the very least, Aiden didn't have an immediate come-back. "You promised last night, when you said that you'd be the 'stupid Chosen'. For Cruxis, that's as good as a contract. You promise to go through with it, you're expected to." As he spoke, Yuan hoped it wasn't obvious that he was just making it all up as he went. In fact, there wasn't a single thing similar to a contract in the Chosen's journey, probably because the others hadn't fought every step of the way and hadn't needed one.

Aiden narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "If my promise is so important, what are you gonna do if I back out?" he challenged. Yuan didn't even have to consider what the consequences would be for his new made-up rule.

"Then Cruxis will smite you and your siblings," Yuan deadpanned. Aiden blinked and the angel nodded gravely, though he was trying very hard to fight back an oncoming smile. "It'll be quick but painful. A large, super-charged bolt of lightning will come from the sky and strike you where you stand. Leave little more than a pile of ashes afterward. It sometimes has a bad backlash and has been known to destroy whole towns, so Cruxis doesn't do it often. But they won't hesitate to do it to you. We'd just have to rebuild Flanoir afterward."

Aiden squirmed uncomfortably on his bed, trying to figure out whether or not Yuan was really telling the truth. Finally, when Yuan was sure he wouldn't be able to keep a straight face for much longer, the teenager groaned and let his arms drop. "_Fine_. Now get out, so I can get dressed," he grumbled reluctantly. Yuan did, allowing his smile to surface as soon as his back was turned. If only he'd known threatening to smite Aiden would have actually worked, he would have done it earlier.

It took another hour for the three to get ready. Nothing had been packed the night before, so they had to work to find clothing, weapons, food that would be good for traveling, bed rolls, their tent, first aid supplies, and cooking utensils. Audrey managed to scrounge up a couple gels, two apples and one orange, and those were also thrown into the packs. Finally, everyone had to wait another five minutes as Aiden tried to remember where he'd stashed their emergency Gald. Yuan was pretty sure he had taken so much time just so that he could stall leaving, since the small drawstring bag had only been beneath the boy's pillow.

But finally they were ready to go, an hour and a half after Yuan had initially wanted to leave. However, he wasn't going to complain about the delay. He was just relieved they were leaving at all.

The streets outside were busier than when Yuan had left the inn, since the delay had given the citizens enough time to wake up and move about. Children walked or ran down the road, heading toward the little schoolhouse, while parents either accompanied them or went their own separate ways. A few adults paused to give Yuan suspicious, accusing looks, as if he was attempting to kidnap the three children. One man even stopped to ask Aiden if they were alright and if they needed any help. Yuan ignored them, though he couldn't wait until he'd be able to leave Tethe'alla behind.

It had never made sense to Yuan why Mithos had thought it a good idea to assign _him_ to Tethe'alla. This world was less tolerant of half-elves that Sylvarant, probably because it wasn't just humans encouraging the discrimination, but there were also the full-blooded elves. It would have made more sense to send Kratos, the only human of the three, to deal with the racism that was Tethe'alla. But instead, Mithos had left Yuan to suffer the dark looks and scathing comments. The angel could only hope that it would get better as they continued.

Even though Flanoir had a very large and magnificent chapel on the other side of town, they had to go out to the temple that sat about half a mile from the city. The temple had been the original Church of Martel for the town, back when the religion was just taking off a couple centuries ago. Since then, they'd moved locations, but the old temple still housed the alter for the Chosen of Mana, and it was still the only religious place in the area where one could teleport from Derris-Kharlan. At the very least, it was bound to be empty of people.

The temple was tall for the area at three stories, though it was rather shapeless. The entire building was a long, narrow block with a flat roof and regularly-spaced rectangular windows. A scaled-down rectangle formed the upper level, which rested comfortably in the middle of the structure. The stone had started to crumble and fall into disrepair, and hardy brown vines hung from the cracks. There weren't any lights but fresh torches hung in brackets ready to be lit, their tops coated in a layer of snow that had no doubt soaked the wood.

Looking at the rundown building, Eli nervously clutched his staff to his chest, though Yuan was hesitant to call it a "staff". It was barely more than a glorified tree branch with the twigs cut off. Audrey's fingers brushed the fletching of the arrows that sat in a quiver at her hip, her other hand curled tightly around the simple, undecorated wooden bow that had already been strung. Even Aiden seemed a little nervous, his hand creeping up to wrap around the strap of his pack, just inches away from the hilt of the giant two-handed sword he had slung across his back.

"We have to go in there?" Eli asked, looking up at Yuan, his expression almost pleading.

"You and Audrey can wait here if you'd prefer. Only Aiden and myself need to go inside," Yuan answered and Eli chewed on his lip before finally shaking his head.

"No, it's okay. I don't want to wait out here," the young half-elf said with shaky determination, his grip tightening on his staff. Audrey didn't say anything, but Yuan assumed she was also accompanying them when she nocked an arrow.

Aiden clapped his brother on the shoulder, offering a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, Eli. If we see any monsters, just pretend they're your practice targets," the teenager advised, and Eli nodded slowly. Looking over at Yuan, the teenager's expression became more surly and he demanded, "Well, aren't we going in?"

Sighing, Yuan made his way inside the building, the Norfel children trailing behind him. "You were just as capable of entering as I was," he said over his shoulder.

"I know. I just wanted to make sure it was safe before going in," Aiden said. Yuan turned to glare at him, his look darkening at the boy's smug smirk, as Audrey smacked her brother's arm. Aiden jumped at the sudden hit, his pleased expression dropping in surprise, and he rubbed at his arm.

"Be nice," Audrey admonished with a small frown. "You know it's safe. You're just picking fights." Aiden blinked at her for a moment before moodily crossing his arms over his chest. Audrey flashed Yuan a quick, apologetic smile before turning to make sure Eli was doing alright.

The inside of the temple was in an even greater state of disrepair than outside. The stones had also crumbled here, leaving loose bits of rock lying in the hall. The furniture had all been made of wood that was now rotted, letting the furniture collapse and fall apart. At one point, they came across a wall that had collapsed inward, scattering large blocks of stone everywhere. The debris created a large number of rough patches and difficult piles that had to be climbed over. The three Norfel children continued in silence, concentrating on their footing and staying on the look-out for monsters. Yuan just flew over the worst of the blockage and waited for his new traveling companions on the other side.

As they went, Yuan worked on lighting any torches he could find, with the help of the Sorcerer's Ring. It had taken a little bit of coaxing, but the wingpack had finally relinquished the little metal band. The Sorcerer's Ring had practically lived in the little box ever since Kratos gave it up after his journey with Spiritua, and Yuan was glad he'd kept it there, as Fireball was not one of his stronger spells.

The entire first floor was surprisingly devoid of monsters, and by the time they climbed up to the second floor, Aiden, Audrey, and Eli had relaxed significantly. Audrey and Eli had put their weapons away and all of them were slowly growing more talkative, though it was still little more than warnings or observations. Not ten feet from the top of the stairs, they encountered a blockade of collapsed bookshelves, and Aiden loudly declared Yuan a cheater when the angel flew over it. That obstacle required Yuan to go back just a few seconds later and get Eli, who had gotten a foot stuck between a couple pieces of wood, and fly him over as well.

"Why can't you just fly us all?" Aiden complained as he carefully made his way down from the book and wood pile. Near the end, he slipped on a loose piece of paper and pinwheeled his arms to keep his balance, almost hitting Audrey upside the head as she slid past him. His attempt to stay upright failed and he landed heavily on his rear, glaring at the offending paper. "It'd be faster and no one would break their legs."

"No one _has_ broken their legs," Yuan pointed out, speaking over the giggle fit that had suddenly struck Eli. "You're also quite capable of crossing these obstacles yourself, provided thin sheets of paper stay out from under your boots." The comment did nothing to stop the younger half-elf's giggling, though he tried to smother it behind his hand when Aiden frowned at him. Even Audrey was trying not to laugh as her older brother picked himself up and brushed dirt and wood splinters from his clothing.

Aiden opened his mouth, probably to throw out some scathing comment, but a rumbling growl from down the hall cut him off. Eli immediately stopped giggling, his eyes going wide as he very slowly scooted behind Yuan. Audrey's hand dropped to her quiver, the other grasping at her bow. Further down the hall, Yuan could see movement in the shadowed corners, and the movement suggested more than one creature. There was a torch sitting in a bracket just a couple feet further and Yuan aimed the Sorcerer's Ring at it, igniting the wood and revealing the creatures.

"They're just lobo pups," Yuan said in disbelief, looking at the three young monsters that stood blinking in the sudden light and growling. They resembled wolves, though only in their body shape. Their fur was mostly blue, with patches of white on their paws, bellies, and tails, and they had a large white fringe of fur running down their spines. Their eyes were red and their teeth, while ridiculously tiny, seemed razor-sharp.

The sound of Aiden's sword sliding out of its sheath rang in the relative silence, and the pups growled louder, occasional squeaks breaking their menacing appearance. One of them slowly stalked closer and let out a sharp, high-pitched bark, the other two flanking it. Yuan held his hands out to his sides, silently asking the three to stay back, and frowned down the hall. The pups appeared very young, too young to survive long without their mother, and yet they appeared to be alone.

"Why aren't they attacking?" Audrey asked nervously, swinging her bow slightly as she tried to figure out if she should raise it or keep it by her side. While the pups sounded mean, they hardly looked the part and were doing little more than acting tough, their white fringes raising around their shoulders.

"Pups rarely do, provided there's an older one around to do the attacking instead," Yuan said slowly, a chill running down his spine at his own words. If they weren't attacking, then it meant the pups considered themselves protected, and yet it appeared to just be them.

Something shifted in the pile behind them, the faint sound almost lost amid the pups' growling. Yuan spun around and mentally cursed himself for not having considered that the mother might be out hunting. A fully grown lobo, nearly four times the size of the pups, stood atop the bookshelf pile, a dead ice spider clutched in its jaws. Her eyes were locked onto the four intruders, her lips rising into a snarl around her catch. As one, the pups stopped growling and slunk away to find a safe place to hole up until their mother was finished.

Audrey fumbled with her bow and Eli let out a tiny squeak, grabbing on tightly to Yuan's cape. For a moment, the lobo stared them down, red eyes flicking between each of them. Then it lunged, dropping the spider and going for Aiden with jaws wide open, its teeth shining red with the spider's blood. The teenager jumped out of the way, swinging his giant sword downward in the same motion. The weapon bounced off the lobo's fringe as it passed, dealing its shoulder just the smallest cut. The lobo snarled and turned on its paws, muscles rippling beneath its fur.

The attack seemed to snap Eli out of whatever trance he'd gone into and he scrambled back, holding his staff out in front of him and closing his eyes in concentration. A ring of red mana spun slowly around his feet and his mouth moved quickly in a silent incantation. Yuan was quicker, striking the monster's back with a well-placed Lightning spell, just as an arrow went skittering off the white fur on its neck. The smell of singed fur filled the room and the lobo bellowed, eyes narrowed angrily.

Aiden swung his sword like a bat, catching the lobo across the muzzle. Blood dripped down from the cut, staining the area around its nose a dark purple and the lobo snapped back, its teeth snapping together inches from Aiden's arm. While the monster was distracted with Aiden, Yuan called out his weapon, the Swallow jumping out of the wingpack with surprisingly little resistance. A fireball zipped past the angel's head, smacking into the monster's leg and exploding in a shower of sparks.

Now fully pissed, the lobo lunged again, paws outstretched, displaying the long, gleaming claws on the end of each toe. Two of the claws ripped through Aiden's coat, tearing twin marks into his arm, and the teenager shouted out in surprise and pain. Yuan flashed his weapon down to intercept another swipe, sparks rising from where the claws scraped against the double-bladed weapon, and the Swallow's sharp edge sliced neatly into the lobo's paw pad. Two more arrows shot past in rapid succession, one finding a home in the lobo's flank, the other stabbing it in the nose.

The lobo turned as if to flee after its pups, the hard white fringe rising like a porcupine's quills. "Down!" Yuan shouted, grabbing Aiden's jacket and forcing the boy to the ground just as sharp white spikes shot out of the fur. The spikes sprayed out, bouncing off the stone walls and sticking into cracks or softer rubble. The lobo turned again, more slowly this time, and got an arrow in its throat. The monster stopped, choking, and reached up a paw to swat at the arrow. The shaft broke off, falling to the ground, and blood flowed down its neck. It darted weakly forward and Aiden scrambled back, easily avoiding its desperate attack. Its legs shook and then it collapsed, continuing to breathe in great, gurgling gasps for a moment before whimpering and going still. Blood continued to pool around its head slowly.

Eli looked ill, his face green and arms shaking as he continued to stare at the dead monster with wide eyes. He was still on the ground, having stopped his casting and dropped at Yuan's warning. Audrey sat next to him, looking only marginally more composed, and he grabbed for her arm, clutching it tightly. Aiden pushed himself up, quietly cursing as he held his bleeding arm to his chest.

Yuan leaned against the wall with his eyes closed and jaw clenched, his breath caught in his throat. He hadn't been quite as fast getting down, having moved to get Aiden out of the way first, and one of the spikes had pierced his shoulder. The six-inch dart stuck halfway out of his arm, the sharp end not quite going all the way through to the other side of his shoulder. It hurt like hell, and a string of profanities ran through his head, though he fought to keep them there and not to shout them out.

"Are you okay?" Audrey gasped and Yuan finally let out his held breath, opening his eyes to look down at the young girl. She was looking between him and Aiden with wide, worried eyes and quickly came to her feet, dragging Eli up with her. "You're bleeding." Yuan wasn't entirely sure who she was talking to, and she didn't seem to know either, eyes darting back and forth before they finally settled on Aiden.

"I'm fine, it's just a scratch," Aiden said, waving his hand dismissively. "I, at least, didn't let myself get stabbed."

"It was hardly part of my plan," Yuan ground out through clenched teeth, glaring darkly at the teenager. Audrey appeared to be ignoring them as she rummaged around in one of the bags, though Eli looked between them nervously. "Maybe next time I'll just leave you to get stuck with spikes and save myself."

"You should. I didn't need help. I could have gotten out of the way on my own," Aiden snorted. Yuan almost snapped back before realizing it definitely wasn't worth the effort. Instead, he just glowered and hunted down an apple gel or two. The wingpack was reluctant to give them up, and Yuan was sure the thing was enjoying his suffering.

Audrey found the bandages they'd packed and hurried over to wrap up Aiden's cuts, though it took a lot of persuasion for him to let her. While they worked on that, Yuan gulped down the two gels he'd managed to get from the wingpack, feeling the light tingling around his shoulder as they started to take effect. The bleeding slowed and the pain died down, though he left the spike where it was. He'd take it out later, when they had more time and weren't standing in a lobo den where three pups still lurked.

"Here, you dropped this," Eli said, his voice shaky and a little strained. Yuan glanced down and saw the boy propping the angel's Swallow against the wall, the heavy weapon easily larger than the little half-elf and causing him a little bit of trouble. Yuan thanked him and grabbed the weapon using the non-injured arm, stowing it away again. Eli glanced back over his shoulder to where the monster lay forgotten and shuddered. "Are there going to be lots of monsters like that?" he asked.

"Probably. Though hopefully most of them won't take us by surprise like this one did," Yuan said, pleased to note that the pain had died down enough that he could speak somewhat normally. His words were still strained, and he could still feel his breath catching, but it was at least a bit better. Eli nodded, not looking too much calmer at the prospect.

It only took another minute for Audrey to finish seeing to her brother and to put the rest of the bandages away. Aiden still held his arm close and grimaced when he had to use it to grab his sword and put it away, but besides his initial cursing, he had no complaints. As soon as the teenager was ready, Yuan pushed off from the wall, keeping his injured arm as stationary as possible, and started down the hallway again. "The stairs should be straight ahead," he said over his shoulder. "And then we can get this wrapped up and leave this damn place."


	4. Temple Squatters

**A/N: So, slightly shorter chapter, but I really don't give a damn, considering this is my fourth rewrite of this stupid thing. I'm just happy it's as long as it is and that it now sounds decent. But anyway, enjoy!**

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Aiden leaned forward, trying to see the next floor without actually walking up the stairs. From the base of the steps, all he could tell was that, unlike the rest of the temple, the third floor was brightly lit and that part of the roof had caved in. He could see snowflakes backed by a screen of light gray clouds through the edge of a jagged hole. Otherwise, there was nothing to suggest what was waiting for them up there. "How come that floor is lit but the others weren't?" he asked, practically laying across the steps in his effort to see everything he could.

Yuan started to explain that there were other angels that would have ensured that this room, at least, was nice and orderly, but he hadn't even gotten the first word out before Eli interrupted. "Maybe someone lives up there," he said, also leaning across the stairs to try and see the floor above. "Hello, is anyone up there?" There was no answer and Eli straightened, shrugging. "Maybe they had to go to the store."

"No one lives up there," Yuan said, shaking his head. He just wished they'd hurry up and continue instead of wondering why there was light. The angel's shoulder was throbbing painfully, even after he'd scrounged up a lemon gel from his wingpack. He just wanted this to be over with so he could ask Kratos for a little bit of healing magic. However, no one seemed to be paying any attention to him.

"Or they're just lying in wait," Aiden said, finally standing up straight, though he still made no move to actually walk up to the third floor. "Who do you think might be up there?"

"If there is someone up there, they probably don't want to be bothered," Audrey said from where she was waiting next to Yuan. The angel was actually surprised she wasn't trying to dissuade her brothers from the stupid idea that the temple had a squatter. She had seemed so much more reasonable.

Aiden continued to stare up at the opening to the next floor, a thoughtful look on his face. Yuan was sure that if the teenager had a beard, he would have been stroking it. "Maybe it's a criminal. Y'know, some murderer or something, hiding out from the guards," he said and Yuan sighed heavily, though again he went ignored.

"It could just be a nice homeless person. Or even a family," Eli said hopefully, trying not to think about some killer lying in wait.

"Or a wild man raised by the lobos, with lots of hair and sharp teeth and red eyes."

"What if it's a half-elf, like me and Yuan, hiding here so no one calls them mean names."

"Maybe whoever it is got all mutilated and hideous in some accident, and lives here so that they don't scare anyone," Aiden said with a grin, eagerly latching onto the idea.

Eli frowned, looking up at the third floor again. "I think it's just a hermit. Someone who doesn't like people and wants to be away from them."

Aiden didn't answer for a moment, and Yuan hoped it was because he was out of ideas, so that this ridiculous conversation would end. However, his hope was dashed when Aiden's face lit up and the teenager snapped his fingers, saying excitedly, "What if it's a homeless, mutiliated, murderous half-elf hermit that was raised by lobos!" Eli gasped, his eyes widening, and he took a quick step back.

"Aiden, stop it," Audrey said, wrapping her arms around her little brother's shoulders. "You're scaring him."

"Oh, don't worry, Eli. They wouldn't hurt kids. Coffee may be a different matter...but you'll be just fine!" Aiden assured, shooting a mocking grin Yuan's way.

The angel scowled and rolled his eyes, wondering how long it would take for Aiden to call him by his name. "Then this time there's no reason for you not to go first. Even if there is someone there, which I _highly _doubt, they won't harm you, if you're telling the truth," Yuan said, gesturing toward the stairs. Aiden glanced up and back, a smirk slowly spreading across his face.

"Why, you scared of what might be up there?" he mocked and Yuan's scowl deepened.

"There isn't even anything up there to be scared _of,_" he scoffed. "It's just an empty room."

"Then I don't see why you're scared."

"I'm _not_," Yuan said forcefully, moving to cross his arms and then flinching as his shoulder twinged painfully. "You know what, fine. I'll lead the way again. Just because I want to get out of this place today," he huffed, pushing past Aiden and Eli and stomping up the stairs, the three children following behind him.

The third floor was little more than a large room, with windows all around. Even though the ceiling was falling apart and bits of the walls were crumbling, the floor was completely clear of debris. In fact, it was clear of most anything, except for the altar that sat in the middle of the room. The torches that lined the walls looked as if they'd been burning for a while, since the flames were starting to die down in some of them, and Yuan wondered just how long Kratos had been waiting for them to finally get here.

Aiden looked around the room skeptically, crossing his arms over his chest. "This is it? There's nothing here!" he said, disappointment and annoyance creeping into his voice. Shooting Yuan a suspicious glance, he demanded, "You're just messing with us, aren't you?"

"Yes, because I think it's great fun to drag a small group of obnoxious kids through Flanoir and get impaled with a lobo spike," Yuan said sarcastically. Eli pouted, scooting a little closer to his sister.

"It's okay, Eli. You're not really obnoxious. He's just angry at Aiden," Audrey assured the little half-elf. Her words made Yuan feel a little bad for hurting the boy's feelings, which made it much more difficult to retain his full anger. Inwardly groaning, he rubbed the bridge of his nose with his thumb and finger, feeling a headache creeping up on him.

"Just...go stand in front of the altar," Yuan said tiredly. Much to his surprise, Aiden listened to him without any sort of comeback or quip, though the teen didn't seem to be very impressed with the idea.

As soon as he got close enough to the altar, a beam of light came down through the hole in the ceiling and stopped at the altar, effectively blinding everyone in the room. Aiden shouted and jumped back, shielding his eyes with his hands, and Audrey squeaked with surprise. Yuan screwed his sensitive eyes shut, turning away. Apparently someone in Welgaia was unaware of just how bright the teleportation special effects were.

After just a moment, the light dimmed until it was barely visible, and it took everyone a moment to clear the spots from their vision. Once they had, they could finally make out Kratos, hovering just over the altar, his blue wings beating slowly and heavily to keep him aloft. Yuan could have sworn he looked faintly uncomfortable, no doubt unsure how to proceed after accidentally disorienting everyone present.

Before anyone else could do much of anything, Aiden spoke up, uttering the single most ridiculous thing Yuan had heard come out of his mouth yet. "You're not a homeless, murderous, mutilated half-elf hermit that's been raised by lobos, are you?" Kratos blinked, debating whether or not that was meant to be an insult or just a really, _really_ stupid question.

"I am Kratos, an angel of judgement," the blue-winged angel said, deciding to simply act as if Aiden had never spoken. He didn't get any further than that before Aiden interrupted again and Kratos scowled in annoyance.

"Just because you're an angel doesn't mean you're not a homeless, murderous, muti-"

"He's not any of those!" Yuan snapped. Well, admittedly Kratos could be murderous, and at some times Yuan wouldn't have been surprised to hear that Kratos _was_ raised by lobos, but he really didn't feel like getting into that at the moment. "For Martel's sake, just let him finish." Aiden made a face but fell silent, crossing his arms over his chest.

"As I was saying..." Kratos said slowly, trying to get the ritual back on track. "I've come to guide Tethe'alla's Chosen, Aiden Norfel, on the third Journey of World Regeneration."

It probably would have been best if Kratos had plowed on through to the next part, since it wouldn't have given Aiden a chance to speak up again. "Wait," he said, and Kratos's eyes narrowed, practically daring him to continue the thought. Either Aiden didn't notice or he just didn't find the look intimidating, as he continued, "If you're supposed to guide me, then does that mean I don't have to travel with Coffee here anymore?"

"No," Kratos said shortly, quickly continuing when Aiden looked ready to speak again. "_Yuan_ will travel with you to ensure your protection. I will help guide you through the...spiritual steps of becoming an angel."

The explanation seemed to be enough to quiet Aiden for the moment, and Kratos pressed on before the teenager could think of any other questions. The auburn-haired, slightly grumpy angel lifted one hand that had been held in a fist by his side since his appearance. He uncurled his fingers and the Cruxis Crystal he'd been holding floated slightly above his hand, glinting in the room's flickering light.

Aiden looked at the stone suspiciously, taking a cautious step back. "What's that, and why's it floating?" he demanded.

"That's so cool!" Eli exclaimed, staring at the floating crystal with wide, awe-filled eyes.

"It's kind of pretty," Audrey said quietly and Yuan snorted. Yeah, it was pretty, if you didn't know that it was going to slowly turn Aiden into a soulless vessel. Actually, at the moment, that didn't sound like much of a downside. At least then he'd be quiet.

Kratos ignored the two kids, not even sparing them a glance, as he explained, "This is a Cruxis Crystal, a sacred object that marks your position as the Chosen. It is through this that Cruxis will grant you the blessings of an angel." As he spoke, the crystal slowly drifted from his hand, toward the wary teenager, who backed up a few steps to keep some distance between himself and the floating stone.

Whenever the Cruxis Crystal got closer, Aiden would move further away, never taking his eye off of the rather innocent-looking crystal. Yuan was sure this could go on for hours if Aiden was left to his own devices, and while it was kind of amusing watching the boy getting chased by a red stone half the size of his fist, it was getting them nowhere fast.

"I don't think it'll hurt you, Aiden," Audrey said reassuringly, though her older brother didn't seem to care about what she thought it would or wouldn't do. He seemed sure that the little stone was out for his blood, and it didn't seem like it would be easy to make him think otherwise. Yuan sighed, something he noticed he was doing a lot of recently, and moved up to grab Aiden by the collar of his coat. The boy's retreat was suddenly halted and he looked at Yuan accusingly, squirming to get away.

"Let go," the teenager demanded, attempting to shrug out of his coat. Yuan just adjusted his grip so he also held the collar of Aiden's shirt, trying to keep him as stationary as possible. Each time Aiden tried to pull away, it jarred the angel's other arm, sending pain shooting through his shoulder and making Yuan clench his teeth to keep from swearing.

The Cruxis Crystal finally caught up to its elusive target, pressing into the hollow of his throat. Aiden closed his eyes and turned his head away as there was a brief flash of light, the crystal fusing to his skin. The Key Crest that formed around it was a simple, circular piece, with minimal engravings and no other adornment.

Aiden slowly opened his eyes, looking down at the crystal on his chest with incredulity. "That's it?" he scoffed, and Yuan slowly let go of his collar, fairly sure Aiden wouldn't bolt. The Chosen poked at the crystal with one finger, shaking his head. "Well, that was underwhelming."

"No, you just made a bigger deal out of it than was necessary," Yuan said, his voice strained as he tried to ignore the new pain. "Now go back over there and be quiet. We're almost done." Aiden obeyed, still messing with the Cruxis Crystal and Key Crest, his attention fixed on them instead of on Kratos, who had been waiting impatiently during Aiden's freak-out.

"From now on, you will be recognized as the Chosen of Mana," Kratos said, not even bothering to try and get Aiden's attention, and Yuan was pretty sure his friend just wanted to teleport back to Welgaia as soon as possible. "Cruxis blesses this event and bestows the Tower of Salvation upon Tethe'alla."

Kratos gestured to one of the many windows in the room, and Eli suddenly grabbed his sister's hand, dragging her over to look. He practically climbed on top of the windowsill, straining to see through the clouds and the thick snowfall that had blown in while they'd been in the temple, none of which was actually getting inside, Yuan noticed. After a brief moment of fruitless searching, the little half-elf jabbed his finger into the windowpane, exclaiming loudly, "There it is, I see it!" Sure enough, the tower could be seen just faintly through the snow, a thin, dark line running from the ground to the sky.

"Chosen," Kratos said firmly, and Aiden finally dragged his attention back with a great deal of reluctance, pulling a sour face as his still unwanted title. "With each seal you unlock, Cruxis will grant you the power of the angels. When you break the final seal and become an angel in full, Tethe'alla will be reborn. I will await you at the Seal of Ice. Good luck." With that, the beam of light flashed again and he was gone, though the light still remained, a faint pillar. Yuan was pretty sure it wasn't supposed to do that. He was also pretty sure that Kratos had skipped over a line in the speech, but didn't blame the other angel one bit. If he could, he would have already teleported away in order to avoid Aiden's obnoxious...everything.

Eli was still crouched on the windowsill admiring the tower, not that there was too much to admire at the moment, with Audrey supporting him so he didn't fall backwards. Aiden poked at the crystal again, as if expecting it to do something, before saying with a smirk in his voice, "His wings were much cooler than yours."

Yuan scowled, sure the expression would become permanently stuck to his face after this journey, and growled, "Again, I had no control over my wing color." Aiden just snickered and the angel let out a breath, quelling the sudden violent urges that had struck him. "Why don't you three go wait down on the first floor. I have something I need to see to."

"What kind of something?" Aiden pried, raising an eyebrow.

"A mysterious, secret, only-for-me-to-know something," Yuan said. It really wasn't all that secretive, but he didn't feel the need to explain himself to the boy.

"What about the lobo pups? What if they find us and attack?" Audrey asked, lifting her little brother from the windowsill and setting him on his feet. He seemed disappointed at having to leave, though the disappointment increased significantly after being reminded of the pups. He apparently found the top of the temple to be quite a bit safer than the bottom.

"That's why I said the first floor. Their den appears to be the second. But should they find you, I'll trust Aiden to scream in a loud, little-girl-like fashion, and I'll come help," Yuan said, smirking at Aiden's sudden scowl. Being able to taunt the boy for once was a nice change. Audrey frowned but didn't speak up, apparently not wanting to reprimand an angel for rude comments.

The young girl nodded, taking Eli's hand and pulling him over to the stairs. On her way, she grabbed Aiden's coat, dragging him as well before he started snapping back. Yuan watched in amusement as Aiden stumbled for a few steps, and figured that maybe having Audrey around would be more helpful than he'd originally considered.

He waited a moment for them to make their way downstairs, listening for any sign that the lobo pups had emerged from hiding, but it stayed quiet. Finally, Yuan stepped up to the altar himself, saying loudly, "I know you're still there, Kratos."

This time there was no bright flash of light or theatrics as Kratos teleported back, landing lightly across the altar from Yuan. And still the faint beam of light persisted. "Why hasn't that been turned off?" Yuan asked, looking up as if he could find the source of the light.

"It broke. Now it will only get very bright or very dim," Kratos said, frowning at the light. "I thought you fixed it last year."

"I did!" Yuan protested before waving his hand dismissively. "Just hit it with lightning when you get back. That should help."

Kratos raised an eyebrow, glancing from the dim light to Yuan. "You are aware that your method of 'fixing' our technology rarely does more than temporarily patch it, aren't you?" Yuan frowned. He had always found zapping uncooperative technology to be extremely helpful. "Such as your automatic door. It got stuck after you left and now sits half-open."

"Stupid door," Yuan grumbled.

After a brief moment of silence, Kratos asked, "Yuan, why haven't you done something about the lobo's spike sticking out of your shoulder?" Yuan looked at the rather painful white weapon, frowning.

"Because if I remove it, it will cause more damage because it's barbed, and I already used my only lemon gel," he said, voice trailing away at the last part. Kratos sighed, rubbing his forehead. "I hadn't thought there would be too much trouble here," Yuan said defensively. "I figured we wouldn't even have to use it until the seal's guardian at the earliest."

"How in the worlds did you even get shot?" Kratos asked.

"A lobo had nested here. We came across the pups, got attacked by the mother, and I got shot trying to get the stupid Chosen out of the way," Yuan said shortly.

"The boy does appear to need extra assistance," Kratos agreed, moving around the altar and looking critically at the spike. "I'm going to remove that. Please try not to deafen me."

Yuan nodded once, steeling himself as Kratos grabbed the spike, his other hand steadying Yuan's shoulder, and pulled. Yuan let out a strangled shout that ended up getting caught in his throat, sudden pain blossoming in his shoulder. He could feel it begin to bleed again, his blood further staining the edge of his cape a dark purple. He had screwed his eyes shut and after a moment began growling out a long string of curses. He heard Kratos mutter, "Healing Wind", and a light breeze played over the wound. The pain immediately died down to just an annoying throb and the wound closed. It took another moment for Yuan to force his muscles to relax and he slowly rolled his shoulder, testing its movement.

"I really need to learn that," he muttered, glaring at the spike that Kratos still held, its sharp, barbed end coated red with Yuan's blood. He rolled his shoulder once more before looking at his cape in dismay. He'd really liked this cape, and now it was stained and had a hole in it.

Silence stretched again as Yuan tried to get his injured joint working properly before Kratos gestured to where the three siblings had disappeared to. "May I ask why you are accompanied by two children?"

"Technically it's three children," Yuan corrected, though he knew exactly what Kratos meant. "But they're the Chosen's siblings. He refused to go on this journey without them."

"You could have made him leave," Kratos suggested and Yuan gave the other angel a look that clearly said he thought Kratos was an idiot.

"You're suggesting that I could have dragged Aiden, kicking and screaming, from his home to force him on this mission?" Yuan clarified and Kratos nodded once with a frown, unsure what the problem was. "If I'd done that, all anyone would have seen would have been a half-elf abducting a human child, and I would have had a very angry town after me. I'm pretty good at fighting, but that might pose a problem."

Kratos's frown deepened and he slowly nodded. "I suppose that wouldn't have been the best course of action," he conceded.

"Maybe I should have just let him stay in Flanoir," Yuan continued thoughtfully. "I know Mithos would have been pissed, but it would probably have been better for everyone. You saw him for yourself - Aiden is uncooperative, unwilling, untrusting, disbelieving, and that's only his attitude toward this journey. At least the Chosens before him were like Martel in some ways, but he's her opposite in every way, even if you don't consider the fact that he's a boy. Maybe I should have just let it be and told Mithos to wait for someone else."

"Mithos seems quite sure that Aiden is the one we need," Kratos said carefully, cautiously trying to keep his friend's temper from flaring. "And perhaps it could work. Look at Spiritua. Her and Martel were almost identical when you looked at their personalities, and yet she was the wrong vessel. Perhaps it will work better when using someone who does not perfectly match."

Yuan rolled his eyes and crossed his arms grumpily. "Now you're just making excuses," he accused. "You know as well as I do that Aiden won't be an effective vessel, either. Mithos is grasping at straws. It's been nearly three hundred years since we split the worlds, since Martel's death, and he's growing impatient, desperate. If you told him Martel's soul would be compatible with a dog, I'm sure he'd try it on the first animal he found."

"That's a little extreme," Kratos interrupted. Yuan scowled, waving the comment away with his hand.

"My point is," he continued firmly, "that this is all a great waste of everyone's time. I'm still going through with it, since I'm as stuck as Aiden is, but I'm not seeing this working. And if Mithos could finally figure that out, all the better."

Kratos stared at the half-elf for a moment before glancing up through the hole in the ceiling. "I'll talk to Mithos," he finally said, and Yuan's scowl abruptly vanished in surprise. He hadn't expected Kratos to actually agree to anything. "I highly doubt his mind will change, but I will bring up your concerns, a little more tactfully of course, and see what he thinks. Just realize it's your fault should he go into another rage."

"Sure, I'll take full responsibility," Yuan agreed, nodding. "Thanks, Kratos."

The auburn-haired angel nodded once, glancing at the light beam again. "I should return and you should go make sure the Chosen hasn't died while we've been talking."

"I'm sure he's fine. That boy's too stubborn to die," Yuan said, but he moved toward the stairs anyway. "See you at the first seal."

"I'll be waiting," Kratos said before he vanished, teleporting back to Welgaia.

Yuan trudged back down the stairs, keeping an eye out for angry pups seeking revenge. None appeared, however, and he assumed they were still hiding, waiting for their mother to return. If so, they'd be waiting for a very long time. He found Aiden, Audrey, and Eli waiting near the base of the stairs on the first floor. Eli was huddled next to Audrey, gently running his fingers over the fletching of one of her arrows, and she had her arm wrapped around his shoulders. Aiden had his large sword laying across his lap and was staring off into space, apparently deep in thought.

"Are we ready to go?" Yuan asked, skirting around Audrey and Eli so he could get to the bottom of the steps.

"Where are we going exactly?" Aiden asked, looking up at Yuan from where he was sitting and making no move to get up. "I know the other angel said something about a Seal of Ice, but I sure haven't heard of it before."

"That's because it's never used except for this journey, which you're only now going on," Yuan said as if speaking to a small child with a limited vocabulary. "And it's off to the east, across the snowy plains. It should only take about two days to reach it, provided we leave now."

"We don't even get to rest for a little bit?" Aiden complained. Audrey and Eli looked between him and Yuan, not sure if they should get up or stay where they were. "We just fought a giant monster and then talked to an angel I'm pretty sure is allergic to anything remotely enjoyable, kind of like you, and now you want us to get up and walk out into a snow storm?"

Yuan snorted, crossing his arms. He was actually pretty pleased that he could do that now without his shoulder causing him too much pain. "There's always a snow storm here," he scoffed. "And you rested while I was upstairs. I'm sure you're fine."

Aiden frowned but pushed himself up, still keeping a hold on his sword. His siblings followed his lead, climbing to their feet and getting their things situated. "Fine. But if we get caught in a blizzard, I'm blaming you." Yuan didn't answer, instead turning and making his way to the exit. Though he was wondering why suddenly everything that could go wrong was being blamed on him.


	5. Flanoir Plains

**A/N: I have returned! Aren't you all so glad. XP Hopefully my lazy writing habits are finished for a little while. If not, NaNo is going to be hell next month. And also, you'll have to wait forever for yet another chapter. Oops? And this chapter is not my favorite and is kinda short, but at the moment, I'm just happy to have some forward momentum. Hopefully it'll pick up more next chapter.**

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Yuan had estimated the trip to be two days, give or take a few hours. This was considering the distance, the rough terrain, mild snow storms, and the fact that they had to walk. What he hadn't considered was the fact that he was traveling with a young boy who grew tired after only two hours, a girl who had gotten into the habit of slowly shuffling her feet through the snow, and a stubborn teenager who tried his hardest to counter every decision Yuan made. Because of this, Yuan found himself stopping for camp for the third night in a row, with a little less than a quarter of the way left.

Their camp had been easy enough to determine. One patch of snow was the same as any other; the only difference was how far away it was from the seal. As usual, there was a light flurry of snow, something that seemed to happen much more frequently on the plains than in the city itself. Yuan was amazed that the mountains surrounding the island hadn't been buried years ago. Some boulders had become lost under the snow, and of course over the last few days, it had always been Yuan who'd smacked his feet on their tops, since Aiden still refused to lead the way.

As soon as Yuan had reluctantly agreed to stop for the night, Eli had fallen to the snow, shrugged out of his pack, and rubbed at his booted feet, a motion that Yuan was tempted to mimic. Audrey dropped her pack next to him, untying the siblings' tent from the top and digging out the extremely long hooks needed to keep it in place. Aiden just flopped on his back, sinking slightly into the soft top layer of snow, content to lay there for a while. Yuan, however, wasn't so content to let him laze around and kicked the Chosen's pack next to him, throwing up a cloud of snow.

"Start getting supplies together for dinner," the angel ordered, digging around in his wingpack for firewood. When Mithos had told him he'd be starting in Flanoir, Yuan had made sure to grab a sizable collection of wood, knowing that it would be next to impossible to find on the barren snow plains. He was tempted to also grab an Apple Gel or two, since his shoulder was still aching and sometimes froze up on him, almost literally, but decided against it. Aches and stiffness were managable; the gels would be saved until someone was really injured.

Aiden looked at his pack darkly, as if he considered it to be at fault for his sudden job assignment. "Why can't you?" he asked, refusing to move from where he was lying, his question directed more at the pack then at Yuan.

"Because I'd poison us all," Yuan said matter-of-factly, trying to clear a spot for the fire. It was nearly impossible, since below the fluffy layer of snow was a packed layer, and beneath that was a thick slab of ice, but he did the best he could.

"I'm sure it's not that bad," Audrey said, struggling to drive one of the hooks into the ground with her foot.

Yuan paused in stacking the wood, looking over his shoulder at the girl, one eyebrow raised. "I'm not kidding. A friend of mine had to use Recover on Kratos to cure him of the effects of my cooking once. And since none of us knows how to cast Recover, I figure it's better safe than sorry," he informed them. Admittedly, that meal had been one of the first that Yuan had attempted to make out of raw ingredients (instead of simply heating up pre-cooked provisions), and he'd been angry at Kratos for some reason and had basically made the entire thing out of tomatoes, which had mostly likely been the reason for Kratos's illness, but he figured the simpler version had more of an effect. At the very least, Aiden pushed himself up and started rummaging through the pack without any further prodding.

When the sticks had been arranged into a neat little teepee, Yuan pointed the Sorcerer's Ring at it and fired. The first night, he'd asked Eli to light it with a Fireball but had decided that was a poor idea after one stray fireball lit the edge of his already ruined cape on fire. It had been simple to put it out, considering where they were, but Yuan was not eager to repeat the experience. He also didn't know how much more abuse his poor cape could take.

The fire was pitifully small, but Aiden didn't seem to notice as he started preparing a dinner of spaghetti. It would have been nice to have had a larger fire, since it kept monsters away as well as it warded off the cold, but Yuan's supply of firewood was running dangerously low, and they'd still need some for the return trip.

Dinner was a surprisingly quiet affair. Eli ran through a number of ideas he had about what the seal would be like, excited that they would be arriving there the next day, a feeling that Yuan shared, albeit to a lesser degree. Audrey quieted some of his wilder ideas, such as his thought that the entire seal would be one massive ice slide. However, that wasn't what was surprising. The real surprising part was that Aiden remained silent throughout the entire meal. Since he'd started cooking, he'd been deep in thought, and he hadn't snapped out of it long enough to even offer a single snide comment. After a while, it started to become slightly troubling.

By the time they had finished eating, night had fallen, and with it came large, heavy snowflakes that looked like they could be used as small snowballs if someone just plucked them out of the air. The thickening snow drew Aiden out of his contemplations long enough to frown up at the sky and mutter, "There's a blizzard coming in." Yuan looked up, too, but didn't see much of a difference between the sky now and the sky he'd seen since arriving on the snowy island.

"It'll be gone in the morning, though," Audrey said with her own glance up. "Come on, Eli. Let's get inside before it gets too bad." Eli looked like he wanted to protest for a moment but changed his mind when a sudden gust of wind raced over them, throwing snow up in their faces and practically blowing out their fire, which was almost dead anyway. The two of them hurried inside the tent, closing the flap behind them to keep out the quickly fattening snowflakes.

Surprisingly, Aiden made no move to follow. Yuan had quickly figured out that the Chosen was not fond of his company, and had noticed that Aiden was normally rather careful about staying as far away from Yuan as he could, when he had a choice. The fact that Aiden seemed to have forgotten his weird dislike for the angel, coupled with his continued silence, was unnerving. The silence quickly grew awkard, at least in Yuan's opinion, and was soon filled with the growing moan of the wind.

"You should get inside as well," Yuan said, glancing over at the teenager. Aiden looked weirdly uncomfortable. He was chewing on his lip and fiddling with his sword's cross guard with one hand.

Aiden didn't look over at Yuan but instead addressed the snow at his side. "I need to talk to you about all this Chosen stuff first, before we get there," he said, absently brushing large snowflakes from the top of his head. Yuan let out a breath that billowed out in front of him in a puff of steam. Though it was clear that the Chosen was reluctant to talk about his position, it was a conversation that the angel knew would be coming at some point. He'd just hoped it would have come later, like after the angel transformation really started occuring. Then he would have had more time to figure out how to explain without pissing off the foul-tempered boy.

"What about it?" Yuan asked, wrapping his battered cloak tightly about himself to create a thin, colorful shield against the more rapidly falling snow.

"Well...what in the world _is_ it? All you said is that I'm the Chosen, so I have to become an angel and save the world and such. Which seems like a pretty poor explanation to me," Aiden huffed, finally turning to frown at the angel, shoving his hands into his pockets and ducking his head against a violent gust of wind that kicked snow up into their eyes. Aiden had certainly been right about the approaching blizzard, though Yuan knew this was, depressingly, still very mild.

"That's really more of an overview than an explanation, and you didn't really seem to even want to hear that, so I didn't elaborate," Yuan pointed out. Aiden's frown deepened.

"Well, I want to hear it now. So tell me. What exactly does becoming an angel mean?"

Yuan shifted uncomfortably. He'd had to explain the process before, and at the time it had been taken pretty well, but that Chosen hadn't been Aiden Norfel. The teenager had been less than pleased about being involved on this journey at all, even when it had been explained in such mild terms. Once he knew the truth, that he would essentially be dying for the sake of Tethe'alla and to fulfill a lonely child's wish, Yuan could only imagine this journey would be described as unbearable. If he even managed to convince Aiden to continue it.

"Basically, each seal brings you a step closer to ultimately becoming an angel," Yuan said slowly, carefully thinking over his words before speaking. "In the first seal, you're given angelic abilities - wings and enhanced senses. Every seal grants you a new ability, a way to use angelic mana that builds up in your Cruxis Crystal, much like how Eli casts magic. However, becoming an angel is more of a...trade system than a charity. In order to get these powers, you need to give something yourself."

Aiden's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Like what?" he asked, the wary tone somewhat lost as he raised his voice to be heard over a sudden howl of wind. Yuan paused to clean himself of snow before he became a living snowman, working to figure out how to explain it delicately at the same time.

"Like...parts of...you," Yuan said lamely, and Aiden's eyes narrowed further. "Not like physical parts or anything, just...mental bits." Yuan grimaced at the cold glare he was getting from the boy and took a deep breath. "At the first seal, in exchange for the wings and senses and ability and all that, you need to give up your ability to sleep. After that, eating, then your sense of touch, and finally your voice." Yuan paused for a moment, closing his eyes to block out Aiden's mixed expression of shock and outrage, finishing in a quick burst of words. "And at the final seal, you give up your memories and emotions in order to become a full angel."

When Yuan opened his eyes again, Aiden was giving him a darker glare than Mithos ever had, even after Yuan had accidentally set fire to Mithos's favorite toy when he was younger, and it was actually a little frightening. "So you're saying I have to basically give up my _soul_ to save this place? Why should I?" the boy demanded, jumping to his feet and glaring down at Yuan. The angel rose to be on the same level, both to stop Aiden should the boy try anything stupid and also because he felt foolish sitting in the snow being looked down on, especially by a disgruntled teenager.

"I didn't even want to be the stupid Chosen!" Aiden continued, his voice rising quickly, and not just so he could make himself heard over the worsening storm. "But I agreed because it sounded easy and straight-forward enough, even if it's a major waste of time. But there's no way I'm going to do something like this if it costs me my life! What do I care if the world still sucks? It's been this way for a really long time, and it'll still be around when you find another gullible little idiot to do this stupid quest for you. But I'm not doing it. I'm not going to slowly die, especially not in front of my siblings! If you think I'm going to continue after knowing just what this means, you are sorely mistaken."

Yuan opened his mouth to try and say something, anything, that might curb Aiden's sudden anger, but the teenager wasn't paying attention. His rant done, the Chosen spun on his heel, sending up a great cloud of soft snow, and started stomping away. Yuan grabbed at his coat, bringing him to a halt for a moment, before Aiden turned violently and wrenched himself free, fire in his eyes. "Don't touch me," he growled. "Just leave me alone, murderer." Yuan blinked, surprised by the boy's vehement reaction. In that second of hesitation, Aiden turned and ran, disappearing into the blizzard within moments.

"Dammit!" Yuan screamed, hurrying after the boy. However, he only got two steps before he slid to a halt and swore again, turning and going back to the tent Audrey had set up. While he knew he had to go after Aiden, hopefully before the boy froze to death, he also couldn't leave the other two kids alone in good faith without at least telling them why they were being abandoned in the middle of a blizzard.

The angel slipped into the tent, shaking himself like a dog to dislodged the snow, and started speaking without preamble, almost without even registering Audrey and Eli's surprised looks. "Aiden's stormed off and I need to get him. Stay here until we return. Do not leave no matter what - we don't need more people wandering in the middle of a blizzard," Yuan said quickly, and both of the children's eyes widened. The angel plowed on before either one of them could speak, unclipping his wingpack from his belt and handing it to Audrey. "If you need anything, it's in here. Hopefully you won't need to get anything out of there, but you never know. Just sit tight and we'll hopefully be back soon. If we're not, well...we'll worry about that when it comes up."

Before Yuan could slip back outside, Audrey grabbed his shirt sleeve. Her eyes were wide with fear and worry, and she held the wingpack to her chest. "What happened? Why is Aiden out there?" she asked, her voice shaking.

Yuan shook his head, gently removing himself from her grip. "I'll tell you when we get back." Audrey just looked more worried but nodded, mumbling something that sounded like 'be careful'. Yuan didn't bother trying to figure it out as he slipped back out of the tent and charged blindly into the thick snow, hoping Aiden knew how to storm off in a straight line.


	6. An Exercise in Healing

**A/N: Yay, another chapter! I apologize for the delay in updating, but present you with a chapter that's considerably longer than the last (not that it took much to make it so), and that's hopefully a little less crappy. But anywho, enjoy!**

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All Yuan could see was white, white, and more white. It covered the ground, it fell from the sky, and it was now the color of his clothing, hair, and skin. He'd quickly lost track of the tent and he wasn't even sure he was going the right way. The search would have been easier from the air, unless Aiden was just as snow-covered as Yuan was, but that would also have been dangerous. The wind was blowing too hard and unpredictably for anyone to fly safely, and with Yuan's luck, he would end up being thrown into the side of a mountain or crashing into a frozen lake.

Besides making flying all but impossible, the wind was also chilling Yuan to the bone. Most of the cold came from the wind, and even Yuan's angelic tolerance for extreme temperatures wasn't helping. He was still shivering violently, wishing he had brought a thicker cape, since his current one had become soaked through relatively quickly. The temperature was also wreaking havoc on his aching shoulder, making the muscles freeze painfully every time he shivered. He had originally tried warming up the joint by rolling his shoulder now and again, but doing that had only made the freezing worse, and so he'd left it alone.

Yuan could only hope he was going in relatively the same direction Aiden had, since it was impossible to know for sure. The quickly falling snow, coupled with the wind that Yuan was starting to curse at, was quick to cover tracks. The angel could barely lift his foot from the ground before his most recent footprint was half filled in, so any of Aiden's were long gone. Besides prints, there was no other way to attempt tracking the boy, especially when Yuan wasn't sure which direction was which anymore. But he figured if he didn't try to change course, it might be easier. Aiden might have been thinking along the same lines, and they might collide by pure chance. It was an unlikely scenario, but still one to be considered.

A harsh gust of wind roared by, pulling hairs from Yuan's normally carefully-kept ponytail. Now it was held less hair than was free, and all of it managed to get in his face. Yuan growled as the wind suddenly changed directions, blowing snow at his back and making his cape wrap around his legs, nearly tripping him. He caught the sound of another growl before the wind changed again and it was whipped away. Yuan froze for a second before turning quickly, eyes flicking around through the monotonous gloom for any signs of a stalker.

A vague, slightly darker shape moved through the snow, and Yuan's hand dropped down to his wingpack, only to find empty air. He cursed, loudly. He'd forgotten that he'd given it to Eli and Audrey for supplies, and was irritated with himself for not taking his Swallow out beforehand. At the time, he'd been a little more preoccupied with the fact that the stupid Chosen had run off into a blizzard to realize that it was the perfect time for monsters to attack, and his weapon hadn't even crossed his mind.

The shape got closer, more defined, and bigger. Every now and then, Yuan caught snatches of low growls coming from it before the wind stole the sound away once more. As it got closer, Yuan could make out a wolf shape - a giant wolf shape. Another lobo, though this one appeared smaller than the cubs' mother had been. A sharp stab of pain, more of a phantom reaction than anything since he'd lost feeling in pretty much everywhere by now, shot through his shoulder. The lobo stopped a short distance off, feet somehow braced in the soft snow, the spikes along its neck raised, and Yuan started drawing in mana. Even if he didn't have a physical weapon, he was at least lucky enough to be a half-elf-turned-angel more than two hundred years old, which meant magic and lots of it.

The two stayed where they were for a moment, unmoving except with the wind's interference. The purple magical spill-off around Yuan's feet made the snow change colors and reflected eerily off the lobo's eyes. Yuan kept his own eyes locked on the wolf-like monster, left hand slightly extended for aiming purposes, though his arm refused to move very far due to the stab wound and the cold. After only a couple seconds that seemed to stretch on forever, the lobo decided the stare-down had gone on long enough, and lunged.

As soon as it jumped, Yuan released his stored mana, shouting, "Thunder Blade!" The spell came easily and even left a little mana behind that Yuan held on to, even though it was starting to give him a headache. He'd forgotten that the spell's mana demands had gone down slightly, since a while ago he'd been using Thunder Blade constantly, trying to teach Kratos how to do it. A giant purple sword, crackling with electricity, fell from the clouds as if tossed down by an angry giant, and more lightning burst out from its point of impact. Unfortunately, the lobo had already jumped out of the way of the blade, but a few bolts hit its hindquarters in mid-air before the monster slammed bodily into Yuan.

Yuan was pretty sure that, after jumping, the lobo had meant to go immediately into an attack, but the shock had startled it for a second. So even though Yuan had been knocked into a sizable pile of snow and was being crushed by a furry, spine-covered monster, he wasn't immediately mauled. He had a moment to pull in a tiny bit more mana, increasing the pressure at the front of his head, before the lobo recovered.

It only took the lobo a second or two to realize that the shock, while painful, wasn't really damaging, and it in no way stopped the monster from continuing with its original plan: kill Yuan. Priorities set once more, the lobo snapped at Yuan's head, and the angel just barely managed to get an arm in time to keep his head from being bitten off. The lobo's jaws clamped down on the angel's forearm, and Yuan growled, trying not to scream. His growl was returned by the monster, who bit down harder. Yuan _heard_ the bone snap in his arm as the lobo increased the pressure, and then he did scream. His scream intensified as the lobo shook his head, wrenching his shoulder painfully; it didn't help that it was the arm the previous lobo had aimed for.

Yuan's vision blackened at the edges and he gasped, pain flooding his body. His free hand was up and grabbing at the fur on the lobo's head, desperately trying to make it release its grip. As his focus slipped, so did his hold on his mana storage, and it flowed out of the hand on the lobo's head. Since Yuan hadn't formed the mana into a full spell, and most of it was residual lightning mana, it mostly came out as a super-charged spark that raised the fur between the lobo's ears.

The monster yelped, releasing Yuan and falling back, trampling him in the process. Yuan let out a stream of growled swears as he scrambled up as quickly as he dared, holding his bloody and mangled arm close to his body. Already the lobo was recovering from the second shock, and Yuan desperately pulled in more mana, the ring around his feet bigger than the last due to his sloppiness. Just as the lobo was shaking itself of snow in preparation for another attack, Yuan bit out between colorful curses, "Thunder Blade!"

The crackling sword reappeared, striking the lobo's back. The lightning latched on to the specks of snow, ice, and water that were stuck in the lobo's fur from its fall, carrying the charge through its entire body. The monster convulsed, letting out a high-pitched whine that remained audible even in the rapidly changing wind, before it collapsed, fur on end and smoking. Yuan watched it, tense and ready to continue the fight, but it didn't move. The angel let out a heavy breath and slouched where he sat, growling as the action moved his arm.

His arm was covered with a pins and needles feeling, as the cold tried to numb it but the warm, escaping blood kept that from fully happening. Blood flowed easily around the fingers of his other hand, and Yuan's head was swimming. Gritting his teeth, Yuan once more pulled in mana, brow furrowed in concentration. Healing was not his forte by any means; Martel had tried teaching him before, but he just couldn't get the hang of it. He was better at electrocuting things, or sometimes setting things on fire, not fixing anything. So it was difficult to try and shape the gathered mana into something capable of healing, but he slowly convinced it away from its normal destructive power.

"First Aid," Yuan gasped, and small, scraggly green lines of mana latched themselves to the wound. It was hardly a powerful enough spell to fully mend the skin and muscles, or rejoin the broken bone, but it was enough to significantly slow the bleeding. Blood still trickled from the wound and stained the snow red, but he wasn't losing it nearly as quickly, and soon it would be able to stop on its own.

The unfamiliar spell, which had taken a ridiculous amount of mana to cast, coupled with pain and bloodloss, made Yuan's vision start to tunnel. He fought it for a moment before his vision blacked out entirely and he succumbed to unconsciousness. He could trust Aiden to take care of himself for a few minutes, right?

When Yuan woke up, he sucked in a breath and immediately inhaled a mouthful of snow. The angel shot upright, spluttering and coughing. As soon as he stopped, Yuan realized his teeth were chattering, and his body was wracked with violent shivers that sent only small spasms of pain up and down his arm. His entire body had gone numb, his clothes soaked through with snow. A snow drift had formed over the angel, and came up to his stomach where he sat. The wind had died down to a much more normal intensity, and the snow wasn't falling quite as thick. Yuan had somehow managed to remain unconscious for the entire blizzard.

Yuan's hands were slowly turning blue, and no doubt his feet were too, but they were covered by boots. He stared at them for a moment, frowning slightly, his brain not quite understanding what was happening for a few seconds. Finally it clicked that blue hands were most definitely _bad_, and he needed to warm himself before he lost the appendages to frostbite. It took him a few more seconds to find the energy to move, but then Yuan started to shakily dig his legs out from beneath his snow, shaking his head to try and clear his thoughts.

Once Yuan's legs were unburied enough that he could move them again, he awkwardly wriggled out on top of the snow, briefly marveling over the fact that he couldn't actually feel anything below his waist, such as the fact that he was standing. He shook his head again, a little quicker, the headache behind his eyes from mana depletion flaring up. _Focus,_ he chided himself, rubbing his injured arm with a hand that felt more like a slab of ice than anything. There was only a vague ache from the limb, it was so far frozen.

Out of nowhere, Yuan was struck with the urge to just sit down and rest for a while, maybe take a nap to regenerate his strength again, before he took off. He had already sunk down into the snow, arms wrapped around himself, before he'd even registered that he'd moved. Yuan suddenly growled at himself, pressing his hands against his forehead. He'd been buried in the snow too long, and his body was growing too cold; Yuan was quickly succumbing to hypothermia, though the thought didn't stay long in his muddled mind. But it was there long enough for him to force himself back up with a suffering groan.

Yuan forced himself to stay upright, despite his body's loud and vehement protests that he should do the exact opposite, and looked blearly up at the sky. It looked clear enough for him to take off and do a sweeping search for Aiden, if only he could dig up enough energy to do it. The angel stood there for a moment, swaying gently, trying to kick start his brain into cooperate without too much determination. It was hard to think when it felt like his head was stuffed with cotton and he was distracted by the strange emptiness he felt from his shaking, numb body.

Finally, Yuan blinked rapidly and shook his head again, willing his wings into existence and pushing off of the ground before he could collapse. He was wobbly in the air, and fell a short distance a couple of times because he forgot to flap his wings, but Yuan thought just being up was a good sign. He scanned the ground below, frowning as he tried to focus on both searching and staying airborne. About a mile to the west, a pack of lobos roamed across the snow. Thirty yards to the north, unnervingly close, a blue and white ice spider buried its way beneath the new snow. Tiny rock spires, the absolute tips of large boulders, forced their way out and peppered the white landscape with gray. From where Yuan hovered, he couldn't see the specific shade of gray that was Aiden's snowsuit, and so he forced himself to fly in gentle, easy circles that slowly grew wider.

Just as Yuan was convinced that he wasn't going to find Aiden, and was tempted just to land and sit for a bit, let Aiden find him instead, he saw the boy lying in the snow below. His gray coat was covered in small patches of snow, so he hadn't been there long, and his sword lay abandoned nearby. There was also a dead ice spider, legs curled in on itself, and it looked like at least one might have been severed. Yuan dropped down, perhaps a little too quickly, since his momentum bore him down into a snowdrift that covered him up to his chest.

Blearily, Yuan dug himself out and hauled himself up on top of the snow instead. The effort, which had required the use of both arms, as well as the rough treatment from the flight that Yuan had largely been unable to feel had opened up the gashes in his arm again, and blood dripped onto the snow. He ignored it, picking his way over to Aiden and stumbling more than a few times due to hypothermia-induced exhaustion and the lack of feeling in his legs.

Aiden was either unconscious or sleeping, though Yuan suspected it was the first. There were a few cuts on his hands and face, his lips were slowly turning blue, and one pant leg was torn. Yuan knelt next to the Chosen, nearly collapsing instead. With a shaking hand, the angel pulled at the fabric of Aiden's pants, taking in the wound. Two large punctures sat prominently on his leg, swollen and a sickly shade of purple. The veins around the spider bite were also turning a slight purple, and Yuan could see them snaking up to the boy's knee before they returned to their original color. Yuan frowned and let go of the fabric. Why, of all things, did the Chosen have to go and get himself poisoned?

Yuan's eyes closed briefly, but were jerked open again a minute or so later when he fell backwards into the snow. The short fall kicked temporarily returned consciousness and kicked his mind into action for a moment, and Yuan pushed himself back up, grabbing Aiden's sword and awkwardly putting it back in its sheath. The boy groaned and stirred, a pained grimace on his face, but didn't wake up. If Yuan had had his wingpack, he could have given Aiden a panacea, but now the boy would have to wait until they got back to the tent.

The thought of carrying Aiden all the way back made Yuan feel even more tired, but he stood before he could pass out again. Black spots popped up in his vision, and darkened the edges. Unconsciousness was going to come one way or another, but Yuan hoped he could get himself and Aiden back beforehand. Without the healing supplies Audrey and Eli were holding on to, Aiden would die from poison, and Yuan would, in the best-case scenario, become comatose for a little while and die himself, if he didn't just die straight off from the exertion he'd put on his weary body or monsters.

These thoughts spurred Yuan back into action; he definitely did not want to die out in the middle of the snow plains of Flanoir. It would be humiliating, cut down by a simple sickness and, by some extention, a lobo. And Aiden dying would probably be even worse, which meant getting back as quickly as possible.

With a low groan, Yuan hefted the boy up onto his not-injured shoulder, glad for his angelic strength, though his shivering definitely wasn't helping anything. Before his muddled mind could think any differently, Yuan launched himself and Aiden back up into the sky. He could only hope that Audrey and Eli had made it possible to spot the tent in the middle of the white field, otherwise the two were out of luck.

It was nearly ten minutes before Yuan spotted the tent, a random spot of blue in the white. Really, he first saw the makeshift flag that the siblings had planted, formed from Yuan's Swallow and a spare black shirt from Aiden's pack. Yuan landed gratefully, his vision all but entirely black, and let Aiden slide from his shoulder and into the snow, collapsing into a sitting position next to the boy. He heard the tent open and a sharp gasp, and then Audrey was there, kneeling at her brother's side.

"Poison," Yuan muttered, though he was unsure if his words were really intelligible. "Panacea in wingpack. Mouth and wound." Once the instructions were given, the angel finally gave in to the illness that had clung to his mind, and slipped unconscious for the third time in an hour.

It was five days before Yuan could finally claim himself fit for travel. After passing out, he and Aiden had been brought into the tent by Audrey and Eli, who had looked after the two. Both of them had developed fevers, and Yuan hadn't regained consciousness for three days. Audrey had almost slipped back off to town for an actual healer, but then he'd woken, groggy and slightly incoherent, and had managed to actually eat something before falling unconscious again. The next couple days found Yuan in and out of consciousness, but his mind was clearer each time he woke, until finally he managed to stay awake for a few hours before falling into a more natural sleep.

Aiden, however, was proving more stubborn. He had initially regained consciousness sooner than Yuan, only two days after being found, as the poison was slowly leaving his system, and had also been in and out of wakefulness, but never seemed to get better. The poison was very slowly leaving his system, but a little still remained when Yuan was finally up and moving, and the boy also had a fever from the bite and the cold.

The day that Yuan was finally capable of sitting up found him sitting next to the Chosen's bedroll. The boy was covered with blankets, all that could be spared, and his brow was furrowed with discomfort. Audrey was outside, taking quietly to Eli, who, as time passed, became more and more worried that their brother was dying. Yuan had tried to tell the little half-elf differently, but Eli seemed unconvinced while actually looking at his brother, and was starting to become hysterical. So Audrey was trying to talk her brother down from his latest fit, while Yuan made sure Aiden's condition didn't worse.

With nothing else to do, Yuan stared off into space, thinking, while he fiddled with the sling his arm was in. In addition to dealing with his fever, Audrey had cleaned and dressed his injured arm, and had given him the single lemon gel he'd packed. The wound wasn't fully closed, but now it was more manageable, though still ached horribly whenever it was moved, hence the sling.

Yuan was pretty sure Mithos and Kratos were wondering where he and his small group had gotten off to, since what was supposed to have been four days of travel had turned into a week and a half. But explaining himself had been all but impossible, mostly because he hadn't been able to think very clearly the past few days, and had apparently made absolutely no sense when he spoke. It would most likely be another day or two before the poison had completely left Aiden's bloodstream and he was capable of walking, and Yuan suspected the further delay wouldn't please his friends.

What worried Yuan was how Aiden was going to behave when he woke up, considering the news he'd been given a few days previously. Yuan seriously doubted that a high fever and a bit of spider poison would wipe that conversation from the boys' memory, or make him any more accepting of the facts. And without any blizzards to charge recklessly into, Yuan wasn't sure how his anger would take shape. At the very least, he was sure it would be something unpleasant.

While Yuan was considering just how poor Aiden's mood would be when he regained consciousness, Audrey and Eli slipped back inside. The little half-elf's eyes were red and puffy from crying, and he was clutching his staff to his chest, but he at least was calm enough at the moment. Audrey smiled slightly at Yuan, one hand resting on her little brother's shoulder. "Anything?" she asked worriedly, turning her attention to Aiden. Yuan shook his head.

"Not just now, but he should be conscious again sometime tomorrow. Most of the poison has left, and he mostly just has to fight off the fever by now," the angel said, and Audrey visibly relaxed, settling down on the ground. Eli's face lit up and he scooted closer to his brother, still clutching his staff protectively.

"Are you sure?" he asked. "He'll really wake up tomorrow?"

Yuan nodded, settling gently against the wall of the tent. He still wasn't in top condition, and felt strangely tired, even though he'd technically been sleeping for a total of about four days. "Positive. I can't say when exactly, but he'll be up." Eli grinned and hopped up, suddenly jumping on Yuan for a hug. The angel gasped as the little boy hit his arm, looking down at the other half-elf with surprise. He waited a moment for the pain in his arm to fade and for his breath to come back before Yuan gently and awkwardly patted the boy's back. "Uh...you're welcome?" he said, unsure if that's really what he was supposed to say. It seemed to do the trick, however, and Eli stopped hanging from his neck, moving around the tent to snuggle up to his sister, who was laughing quietly to herself.

There was silence for a little bit, broken only by the occasional groan or gasp from Aiden, each of which drew his siblings closer in worry. After a few minutes of watching them and trying to distract himself from the bolts of discomfort running up and down his arm, Yuan spoke up. "I've been wondering," he started, getting Audrey and Eli's attention easily. "How exactly are you three related? I know you're siblings, that much has become painfully clear, but it's just as clear you all don't have the same parents."

Audrey glanced down at her little brother, smoothing the hair around his pointed ears. "Aiden and I are full siblings, but Eli is our half-brother. Both of us had the same dad, but he died when I was little, lost in a sudden blizzard, and then our mom married someone else," the girl answered, and Eli patted her arm sympathetically even though she didn't outwardly appear to be very upset.

"Then our mom met my dad - he was an elf," Eli said, the last part a little unnecessarily. "He was just visiting, but he liked my mom a lot and then I came. He didn't stay, 'cause he had other places to go, but he comes back sometimes. He always has a present when he comes back." Audrey smiled at Eli, putting an arm around his shoulder. He suddenly frowned and looked around at her. "What if he comes back when we're gone? No one will be home."

"Your dad can always get inside; he has a key. And he'll probably leave a note and whatever he got for you, ready for when we come back," Audrey said and Eli nodded slowly, thinking it over before apparently deciding his sister was right, a grin spreading across his face. Yuan watched the two quietly, allowing them their conversation uninterrupted and considering their situation. It was definitely uncommon, especially in Tethe'alla, where most half-elven children weren't accepted in otherwise human homes, or if they were they had difficult lives. It was strange to meet such an accepting group of people as the Norfels.

Aiden shifted and mumbled something, and suddenly everyone's attention shifted to the boy, previous topic forgotten. The Chosen's eyelids fluttered, and though he didn't fully regain consciousness, it was a good sign, better than Yuan had expected. The angel guessed that the boy would wake up within a few hours, or by daybreak at the latest.

Yuan's most recent guess proved true. It was the middle of the night, and Audrey and Eli were asleep, curled up together and close enough to Aiden that he could touch either one of the with minimal effort should he awaken. Yuan had offered to keep watch over the boy, since he was starting to feel a lot better, if still a bit shaky and detatched. He was at least well enough that he didn't necessarily _need_ sleep, though it would defintely be helpful, and he'd figured he'd let the two kids rest instead. They actually needed a certain amount of sleep per night, and Audrey especially hadn't been managing it while caring for two sickly blizzard-adventurers.

The angel was debating whether or not he should wake Audrey in an hours' time like he'd promised or let her continue sleeping to make sure everyone was well rested for the temple when Aiden drew in a sharp, deep breath and his eyes flew open. He tried to sit up, probably before even thinking about it, but his weakened body refused to support him and he fell back onto his bedroll, gasping in air as if he'd been drowning. Yuan moved next to the boy and put his hand on Aiden's shoulder to keep him from trying to get up again. Aiden actually didn't feel abnormally hot through his T-shirt, as he had earlier that day when Yuan had checked on him, which meant his strength would soon be returning.

For a moment, Aiden didn't quite seem entirely there, his eyes glassy and unfocused. Slowly, though, the haze left his eyes and he looked around with a low groan, unburying one hand from beneath the pile of blankets and resting it on his head. Without moving his hand, Aiden moved his head to one side and smiled slightly when he saw his siblings sleeping side by side. When he turned the other way, though, and noticed Yuan sitting next to him, Aiden's smile quickly dissolved and he scowled at the angel between his fingers.

"Thought you might have gone off to try and murder some other kid," Aiden hissed, his voice rough and scratchy but quiet enough to hopefully not disturb his siblings just yet. "That's what you do, right?" Yuan scowled back but didn't reply; there really wasn't much to say. Aiden grimaced and rubbed his head, mumbling something about his brain being swimmy. Then he went right back to glaring at Yuan, though the effect was diminished since he was pale, sweaty, and half his face was still covered by the hand he hadn't bothered putting down yet. "But you should know that we're going back. I'm not going through with this stupid quest just to end up dead later on."

"I don't think that will happen too soon. You've been in and out of consciousness for six days; it will take at least another full day before you're ready to move on your own," Yuan pointed out, though he knew the fact would do little to nothing to deter Aiden. The Chosen frowned at himself then over at his siblings.

"Well, then we'll leave when we can," he said, looking back over at Yuan. "We'll go back to Flanoir and you'll just have to find another Chosen to kill." Aiden paused again to cough, all the words apparently too much for his dissued throat to handle. Though he tried to muffle it by taking only the tiniest breaths of air before each cough and pressing his hands firmly over his mouth, Yuan looked worriedly over at Audrey and Eli. It would be just his luck if they woke up in the middle of a conversation where Aiden was repeatedly accusing him of being a murderer. But the two stayed asleep, dead to the world to due a combination of exhaustion, stress, and worry.

Once Aiden's coughing had subsided, Yuan leaned closer, squeezing the boy's shoulder to try and emphasis his seriousness. "Do you really think hiding out in town is going to help?" the angel said, his growling voice much clearer and more intimidating than Aiden's. "You are the Chosen; by going to the temple and getting your Cruxis Crystal, you've signed a magical contract to continue this journey until its end, one way or another. Even if I do allow you to go back and I do agree to leave you alone, it won't last long. Give it a month, not even that, and then I or someone else will come right back down here to drag you through this mess again. While you are the Chosen, we can't have another, and no angel is going to wait for you to drop dead of natural causes before we continue." _Especially not Mithos,_ Yuan thought.

Aiden's scowl darkened and he tried to sit up again, but Yuan held him down easily. "That was before I knew what I was getting into," he said, making an obvious effort to keep his voice down. "I never would have agreed if I knew the whole plan."

"You didn't ask then," Yuan huffed. "And it doesn't matter now. You can't quit after the first temple, not unless the journey is finished or you're unable to continue."

Narrowing his eyes, Aiden asked, "And what would qualify me to be unable to continue?"

"Being dead," Yuan said bluntly, and Aiden's face twisted in anger. It was cleary difficult for him to keep his voice down and not start yelling.

"So I'm going to die one way or another, all because I have a stupid crystal on my chest, is that what you're telling me?" he growled, his voice quickly regaining its normal life.

Yuan shrugged and nodded, unable to find any sympathy for the boy who was chewing him out for something the angel had no real control over. "Yes. But here's your choice: You can either die at a certain time, and be able to warn and prepare your siblings for this eventuality, and pass easily and painlessly; or you can allow yourself to be killed suddenly, without warning, and no doubt violently. Take your pick."

Aiden seethed quietly for a moment before turning his head away without a word. "Fine," he growled a minute later, when Yuan was sure he was just going to give the angel the cold shoulder. "I'll play along for now. But I won't let you lead me to my death without a fight," he promised, which sent a nervous shiver down Yuan's spine. He had previously assumed Aiden had already been fighting against it; he could hardly imagine how his experience with the boy could worsen.

Before Yuan could answer, Aiden reached out and nudged Audrey's leg. The push startled her, and she was halfway into a sitting position before her eyes were open. She blinked blearily, but then realized what had happened. Suddenly she didn't look quite as tired, and she gasped, her face lighting up as she pushed Eli awake. Yuan slid back away from the small familly as the younger two all but physically attacked Aiden, making sure he was alright and crying. The angel didn't pay them much attention, more worried about Aiden's attitude and what troubles it would bring.

But at the very least, the conversation had gone better than expected, which was more than Yuan could have hoped for.


End file.
